How to get Tangled up with a dragon rider
by sophieashwood
Summary: When a spirted blonde is fed up with a routine life, fate hits as she meets a clearly misunderstood and eccentric viking, throw in a cuddly nightfury and a witch determined to get her flower back and their in for the adventure of a life time. Join them through the ups and downs along the way as friendships are formed, danger always looms, and love sneaks its way in...
1. Chapter 1

"Come on" Rapunzel muttered to herself as commanded her arms to move faster, "And…time!" She shouted to herself as she swept the last pile of dirt into the dustpan. Rapunzel turned to the clock on the wall that read 7:13 am.

"Yes!" The blonde shouted in triumph, "A new record for…doing chores" she finished off disappointedly. Rapunzel turned to her little green chameleon Pascal that had climbed onto her shoulder, "Does that sound really sad to you?" she asked him.

Pascal was sympathetic to his best friend and simply shrugged his shoulders. Rapunzel sighed, blowing a stray blonde hair from her face. "Well, now we're free to do what we want" Rapunzel said in a cheery tone, but she would be fooling herself if it was all true cheer. After almost seventeen years of being in a tower, doing everything humanly possible and more in the confided space actually got quite boring.

A cool fall breeze blew across Rapunzel's cheek, drawing her attention to the window, the entrance to the world unknown to her. The girl felt a nonexistent force drawing her to it.

Rapunzel steeped up onto the wooden ledge of the window, the pads of her feet dropping in temperature even more. She gazed out at the familiar scene before her, a scene so familiar that she knew where every bud bloomed after the wintertime, every shining constellation, and exactly what ridge the floating lights appear over on her birthday, always.

The blonde sighed to herself again; her eighteenth birthday was 6 months, though to her it might as well have been a billion years. 6 months until the floating lights would rise up in the sky for 15 glorious minutes of her life, she felt as if she was in her own little world, it was magical.

"But it would be even more magical if you were there in person" Rapunzel said out loud to herself. She slapped a hand quickly over her mouth, how dare her conscience say that. "You know what mother says is out there" Rapunzel began arguing with herself, "There's ruffians and Thugs and cannibals and…and…" She stuttered a little, another breeze had just swept by, bringing up the smell of fresh grass. It was intoxicating.

Rapunzel had always wondered what fresh grass felt like. She remembered her mother bring a handful of blades to her once, she had spent the next couple hours rubbing the grass on her face, her pads of her feet, and between her toes. Though, it still hadn't filled that wonder part of her enough, she actually needed to be there for it to be complete.

The blonde's feet betrayed her as they kicked her massive hair out the window, creating the perfect way for her to escape her door less tower. Just one slide down and she could fully be a part of this world.

One of her feet immediately hooked around her hair, "No you don't, get back here!" She exclaimed to her foot, but only have her other foot loop into the golden locks, "Oh this is happening! This is happening!" Rapunzel panicked as her body betrayed her commands as hand over hand, she began climbing down her makeshift rope.

However, once the blonde finally calmed her mind and wheezing breath, she actually began enjoying this. Rapunzel felt with every inch she was climbing down, more and more invisible weight was taken off her shoulders, it was the taste of close freedom.

Rapunzel began giggling excitedly as she was now only a few feet away from the ground, from her fantasy land.

Suddenly the grandfather clock up in the tower chimed for 7:30, her mother would be arriving soon from picking herbs. Sheer panic washed over Rapunzel as she began clawing her way back up, she ignored the protests of Pascal, who was hanging on for dear life onto the bucking teen. Rapunzel had a flashback to when she was thirteen, how Rapunzel had kept pestering her mother about going outside so much, that she was grounded to her room for two weeks with only a book about murders left unsolved, how the killer was never found. So if her mother caught her outside the tower, who knew what would happen to her.

Rapunzel practically launched herself back through her window, scraping her knees against the hard tiles floor. The blonde barely paid attention to that at all as she worked on trying to calm her shaking body.

"Rapunzel!" Mother Gothel's voice called out only seconds later, "I would appreciate it if you would pull me up too"

"Coming Mother!" Rapunzel squeaked out, as she jumped to her feet and began to pull the massive hair up to the window.

Gothel enthusiastically through her arms over her head when she finally reached the window, "Oh hello my—" Gothel cut herself short, as he happy expression turned into a little offended, "Now don't be such a drama queen sweetie, I certainly don't weight much at all"

Rapunzel looked at her mother confused, but then realized that her breathing was still pretty ragged from her panic attack from just seconds ago, "Oh you know how I am sometimes mother" Rapunzel laughed nervously trying her best to cover up her forbidden act, "teenager attitude"

Gothel cocked an eyebrow at the young girl, but shrug it off quickly, "So you finished your chores I presume?"

"Of course mother" Rapunzel replied, straightening her posture and folding her hands behind her back, just like the good obedient daughter she was supposed to be.

"Good, and don't forget to start pickling the meat, drying the grains, and candying the fruit" Gothel went on as she began to unpack her basket of the days herbs and foods. "Looks like a harsh winter will be coming this year"

"I'll start right on it" Rapunzel said in a mechanical tone, and that ended their routine conversation that always lasted a minute and a half, no more, no less.

Silence sat in the room for a few moments, as Rapunzel chewed at her lip to ask her mother a question she had pondering while she had been doing her morning chores, "Mother…"

"Yes flower"

"I…I…" she stuttered a little before she blurted out her question, "I was wondering if I could plant a garden in the spring"

Gothel looked at Rapunzel quizzically, who was now rolling on the balls of her feet, "Why would you need a garden? I get all the things we need already"

"Yes but—" Rapunzel strayed off a little as she began playing with a strand of her golden hair, "I would love to go outside, and feel the sun, and grass, and getting filthy from working in the dirt!" she exclaimed, unable to keep the excitement of the fantasy inside her.

The older woman sighed as she turned fully to Rapunzel. "Have you learned nothing from last time my dear about what horrors lie beyond this safe tower?"

"Of course I do" Rapunzel replied, "But it's only a couple of feet and—"

"No Rapunzel" Gothel said bluntly, but Rapunzel wasn't done with her argument yet.

"And it's not like I would run off or anything—"

"We're done with this" Gothel said back even more firmly

"And I can take care of myself!" Rapunzel rose her voice up a little bit

"Enough Rapunzel!" Gothel screamed, "You are not leaving this tower, ever!"

Rapunzel was taken back by her mother's fury, but some unknown part of her didn't want to stop just because of that. "But why not!" The blonde screamed back, surprised at herself for having her voice actually be that angry, "I could have a life and see other people if I could just get out there, it could be a good experience for me!"

Gothel surprising stayed calm and looked upon the girl as if she was dealing with a rebellious puppy than a seventeen year old girl, "Oh my naïve flower" Gothel said collapsing into a chair dramatically, "When are you going to realize that there is nothing out there that the world can offer you that you don't already have here" Gothel happily gestured to their home, "what more could you possibly want?"

Rapunzel turned a light shade of pink as she softly spoke out her next sentence, "Well for one, what about…boys?"

The older woman just began laughing at her daughter's question, "You mean falling in love?" Rapunzel nodded her head in embarrassment, "Rapunzel, that's the oldest trick in the art of manipulation"

"But maybe it won't look be like that for me" Rapunzel said defensively, "Maybe I'll actually meet a great guy and have my purpose for being out in the world"

Gothel, obviously bored of this conversation, stood up and put on her cloak again. It was time for her to go get some new cloth, as she did every once a month, "I'm see I'm going to have to be blunt with you dear" She gripped Rapunzel's shoulder, "There is absolutely nothing out there for you, but cruel, deceitful, people who only want to use you" She leaned down her face a little closer to Rapunzel's for effect, "_**Always**_"

Satisfied in seeing Rapunzel drop her head down, Gothel grabbed the end of her daughter's hair and headed back to the window with her basket in hand. Rapunzel trailed after her mother, her face speaking of defeat. The blonde slowly lowered her mother back down to the ground and watched as the woman disappeared into the forest.

She crossed her arms tightly across her chest in annoyance as she rested them on the windowsill, "My purpose for staying in that world _**is**_ out there" Rapunzel said determined as she laid her head down on her crossed arms, "I just have to find it"

* * *

><p>"Come on!" Hiccup horrendous Haddock III exclaimed to his father as the two of them exited out of the guy's loft, "This won't be another disaster, I can help!" He exclaimed to his father with slight desperation in his voice.<p>

"Right" Stoick the Vast said amused to his fifteen year old son, "Just like you said the last time, and the time before that, and the time—"

"But this one will work this time" Hiccup shouted to his father again as he held up his blueprints to him, "This'll help shoot bolos at twice the height and four times the speed!"

Stoick laughed boomingly at his son, "Or you could build up some muscle and make an effort to fix all…this"

"You just gestured to all of me" Hiccup said annoyed

Stoick nodded as if he had made his point, as he exited out the front door, not giving his son a second glance.

Hiccup let out an annoyed sigh as he collapsed into a chair that was obviously too big for him, "Why do I even try?" The teen Viking looked at the sketch that was in his limp hand. He knew where this was going to be stashed away to for all of eternity…most likely.

"Well 'm happy you decided' t' drag yur' lazy butt here" Gobber joked with his thick Scottish accent as he saw his apprentice walk through the door. When he got no usual dry humor response, the old blacksmith looked to Hiccup slumming across the floors, he knew what that meant. "You and 'r old man have anothar argument?"

"Nothing gets past you Gobber, huh?" Hiccup droned out as he threw open the curtain that led to his private back room. Gazing at his invention again, he stuck it up next to the other unaccomplished creations of his, and this one was supposed to be his greatest creation yet. Hiccup had spent so much of his spare time re-designing this, so many crumbled calculations, so many run down pencils, all for not even a glance from his dad, what a waste.

"Don't take 't so hard kid" Gobber said as he continued to hammer at a new blades that would go in the Thornton twin's spears. "You know a Village Chief must show no—"

"Must show no emotion or weakness, yeah, yeah, I get it" Hiccup annoyingly finished for his mentor as he switched out of his fur vest into his apron. "But you know he's gotten a lot worst ever since my mom died" And with saying that Hiccup fingers reached inside his vest that was hanged up and let his fingers glide over the rough texture of his little brown book, that last possession his mom ever gave him.

His mom had been the only one that had shown interest in his different views of life, though with being lifelong friends with Gobber, she was probably used to hearing crazy theories. And truthfully, the very first thing he ever drew in this book was his mother, looking like a deformed potato. But she had praised it anyways. He still had that picture tucked away under his mattress.

"Ya''" Gobber replied with as much grim as Hiccup had, but he shook it off quickly, Viking men equaled no emotions, "Well mopin' isn't going t' get this work done, we've got a load of weapons to fix for dragon trainin'"

"Ah yes" Hiccup said as he searched for his favorite hammer on one of them messy workshops tables, "And I'll make sure I bring some of my enthusiastic cheers for everyone else who will actually participating"

"Tha's th' spirit Hiccup!" Gobber exclaimed as he slapped the teen on the back with his good hand, "Keepin' 't positive even if Odin's great ghost wouldn't bet on ya surviving dragon trainin' either"

"Thank you for those words of 'kindness'" Hiccup responded using his fingers to quote on his emphasis.

"Anytime' me boy!" Gobber said with over enthusiasm, "Now come on, those twins will be here any—"

"Hey move it numskull!" a shrill girl's voice exclaimed, Hiccup groaned to himself, the terrible twins have arrived.

"Minute…" Gobber finished with a tone that matched Hiccup's mood.

Hiccup turned to see the pair both trying to fit through the door at the same time, these two could never agree on anything. Ever. The teen turned to his mentor and they telepathically said in union _'Rock, paper, sword.' _Hiccup groaned again as Gobber triumphly covered his hand paper over Hiccup's own hand rock; it was his turn to deal with his fellow teens.

After Gobber made some lame excuse that he had to go pick up a mysterious something up, Hiccup took a deep breath and turned to the spawns of Hel. "You guys here for your spears?" He asked lamely

"What else would we be here for useless" Ruffnut replied, trying to sound all high and mighty.

Hiccup bit down his tongue, as he turned and quickly attached and tied down the four new spear heads to the end of the two poles effortlessly. Of course it was one of his skills that didn't seem to impress anyone.

"Here you go" The teen said as he threw the spears to the correct twin, they were extremely particular of only having their own weapon in their hands. And just for good measure he added, "And remember to use them on the dragon and not each other"

"Pretty bold for you telling us what to do?" Tuffnut said as his famous mischievous grin crept over his lips, Hiccup mentally rolled his eyes. This could lead into a whole rant from him about how he thinks he's so much better than anyone else.

"Come on you two!" barked out Astrid's voice, just what Hiccup needed, to act even more foolishly just from hearing her voice. "We've got training at three sharp!"

"At three sharp!" Ruffnut mimicked in an annoyed tone as she hefted her spear over her shoulders.

"See ya loser" Tuffnut said to Hiccup as he through it over one shoulder, trying to outdo his sister once again, "have fun staying in the cave you belong in"

Hiccup didn't take too much offense to the snide comment as he grabbed a sword from the work pile and began sharpening it up. Comments like that were regular basis thing around here, it was a good day for him if he only got 3 insults.

"But I _**will**_ get out there some there someday" Hiccup said determined as he glanced out the shop window, "I just have to find my purpose"

* * *

><p><strong>Authors note<strong>

**Well? What do you think? I hope I did alright with this first chapter of hopefully a great story (crosses fingers). Read and Review my fellow fanfic freaks!**

**P.S. How was Gobber? Still trying to get used to writing in accents, was it decent at least?**


	2. Chapter 2

"Umph!" Hiccup grunted as he lamely threw the bolos at his targeted branch; and like before, he missed. This time the bolos landed just right under the branch, so much for him trying to throw those things the old fashioned way.

"Oh I give up!" Hiccup exclaimed as he turned on his heels to head back to the village, "This is such a waste of—woah!" the Viking teen shouted as something wrapped around his ankles and he face planted onto the ground.

"Alright!" Hiccup exclaimed; his already boiling frustration made him not in the mood for this, "Who's the _rykk_?" The Viking got his response as a tree not too far away began to shake.

"Still the reigning champ of sneakary!" A wild blonde shouted as she dropped from her hiding perch, landing softly on the tips of her toes, "Not that I should ever be surprised, since you are just a boy"

"Uh correction" Hiccup protested to the friend he hadn't seen or heard from in about 6 months, as he pulled at the bolos ropes with a struggle, "I'm fifteen Camicazi, that makes me a man now"

The girl Camicazi stifled a laugh, "Not much of a **prime** example for the Hooligan men species though." Camicazi knelt down and effortlessly untwined her friend from the bolos. Hiccup just pursed his lips from the sad effort he had given and jumped up to his feet.

Hiccup realized then that he had now gotten a little taller and could now see over the top of his blonde haired pal, "Well that's a lot of talk _short stack_." Though thanks to that comment, Hiccup's ankles disappeared from under him and he was knocked onto his back, "No need to be sensitive Camicazi"

"It's not my fault, my woman hormones just act up at random" The Bog-Burglar said innocently as she yanked Hiccup up by the collar of his fur vest, he just rolled his eyes to her.

"What are you even doing here?" Hiccup asked, "I thought you were supposed to be on a fishing trip with your mom in the Icy Wasles from what you wrote to me last?"

"I am" Camicazi began as she started picking her nails with her trusty dagger, "But I was in the neighborhood and I thought you'd like to hear some whispers that have been going around on the high seas"

"If it's anything about dragons, I'm good on that topic" Hiccup groaned

"Actually" Camicazi droned out, "It's about another friend of ours…Romans" Hiccup's eyes widened. "Swear on my grave" the blonde interjected before Hiccup could question what she had just said.

"They're coming here?" Hiccup asked with a slight excitement to his voice, war was never fun to this Viking in particular, but with those Roman losers, it was a whole other thing to him.

Camicazi sighed, "Sadly no" she shared the mutual feeling about these guys with Hiccup, it wouldn't have been the first time that their dynamic duo, used to be trio, had knocked those all-high-and-mighty guys down a few pegs back in their childhood days, "But they do have a target in mind, the Kingdom of Diadema, sister empire to the Kingdom of Corona"

Hiccup remembered hearing about the grand, rich kingdoms that lay just beyond the horizon from some of the Vikings, places of true grandness. "Go big or go home I guess" He mused, Camicazi couldn't help but crack a smile; Hiccup just had that kind of effect to him. "Corona?" Hiccup said, he knew he had heard that name before, "Doesn't that place have something to do with a lost princess?"

"Yep" Camicazi said as she went over to the nearest tree and carved a sun into the wood, Corona's symbol, "Apparently when the princess was just a couple days old, she was stolen out of her crib by a mysterious figure. So every year the Kingdom releases thousands of lanterns into the air, in hope that one day their lost princess would return."

Hiccup said with awe, "And they've never found the princess? Aren't places like Corona supposed to have huge, and well-trained armies at every door?"

"That's what makes that mysterious thief my idle" Camicazi said as she slammed a hand onto her heart, "I hope one day I could pull off a heist like that"

"Then I'll be waiting for the day when your head is being sent back here from a place like Corona" Hiccup said smugly, Camicazi raised a threatening fist to him, "Kidding, kidding!" Hiccup exclaimed before any bog-burglar damage was inflicted upon him.

Camicazi smirked in approval from her friend flinching, he was such a boy. "Well I better get back before my mother realizes I'm gone" Camicazi shivered slightly, "I always have the nightmare that her colossal bosom will crush me when she gets in her 'you ungrateful child, always runnin' off' mood"

Hiccup stuck out his tongue in disgust, "You better get going then, that'd be quite a horrific way to go"

Camicazi saluted to her friend as she began back tracking the way she came, "See around boy"

"Man!" Hiccup called out to his friend

"Never in my eyes!" Camicazi shouted back as she began to race down a steep hill that led to the northern shore of the island where her fellow Bog-Burglar's ship was at port. Hiccup smirked at his friend, what a pain in the ass he had been putting up with for five years now.

"My deepest apologies to you princess" Hiccup then said to the carved sun, "Maybe one day we'll both find a way back to our real homes" Hiccup kissed two of his fingers and placed them on the carving, _"Farvel prinsesse"_

* * *

><p>Rapunzel had been desperately trying not to think about the conversation she had with her mother the other day, but the bitter taste of close freedom still sat in the back of her mouth. Life was just so unfair sometimes. So to try and distract herself, she had been taking her mundane activities to the extreme. Upside down meditation, painting pictures with her toes, knitting an entire dress, and even trying to eat spoonful's of cinnamon, which failed immensely every time. Finally Rapunzel decided to try and vent her nagging wish the best way she could, through painting.<p>

Rapunzel guided her brush to delicately add the finishing touches to her hair that was on her newest mural of her sitting and watching the floating lights. _"Once you believe you are ready to shine, the princess inside will show, you are the glow" _she sung softly to herself; she opened her mouth, hoping more of this beautiful melody would come out, but nothing did. Rapunzel sighed, so many times had she sung this small phrase that haunted her memory, wishing that more would follow, but nothing more ever did.

"Rapunzel" Gothel said as she sewed from her favorite velvet arm chair, "What did I say about singing that song?"

"That the only song I'm allowed to sing is _healing incantation_" Rapunzel obediently replied, "Mother, why are you so highly against me singing that song?"

"As I've told you before flower" Gothel sighed, annoyance dripping from her tone, "It brings back bad memories"

"Of course" Rapunzel lamely said, it was the same response she always got when she asked the question. "If you'll please excuse me mother" she said as she hopped down from her mantle perch and started up the stairs to her room.

"I love you very much dear" Gothel cheerily called out to Rapunzel

"I love you more" Rapunzel responded automatically

Gothel happily finished their traditional chant, "I love you most"

Rapunzel gave her mother a fake smile as she disappeared behind the curtains that led to her bedroom. Rapunzel groaned as she flopped down onto her bed; why did her mother have to ruin her fun? It was just a song, what harm could it possibly do?

Rapunzel then realized that she had left her books, all three of her books, on her bed when she had been skimming through them earlier that day. Rapunzel laid out the books before her to gaze at the covers she had memorized so much; she had one on sewing, another on cooking, and the last one was about pottery.

Rapunzel decided to flip through the cook book to see if there was **_any_** possible chance she hadn't cooked one of the recipes from it yet. She prayed there was, or she would surely explode from more near future boredom.

And as if a higher force was listening to her, she found a spicy lamb stew recipe, which added to her luck since lamb was her mother's favorite. Maybe if she made this, she could use it to butter her mother up to change her mind about letting Rapunzel go outside. "Yeah right" Rapunzel rolled her eyes to herself, "And one day man will be able to fly"

A grimace spread across Rapunzel's features, was she always going to have false hopes at the end of all her dreams, it couldn't be…it just couldn't be.

The blonde then flew up from her bed with her fists clenched at her sides, now determined from the gutsy decision she had just made. Rapunzel silently peered out to the downstairs to make sure her mother was still preoccupied with her sewing, and to Rapunzel's luck, she was. Rapunzel then scavenged around for the project she had been working on for the past couple months. "Victory" Rapunzel whispered to herself as she found her creation under her bed.

Holding before her was Rapunzel's custom tailored cloak, especially designed for her situation. Rapunzel had sewn a pouch in that was the length of the cloak, so she could hide her hair from any wandering eyes.

"It's high time I used this thing" Rapunzel said as she then discarded the things from her sewing basket, "Get anything you may need Pascal". The chameleon squeaked from the bed in confusion, "We're leaving" Pascal replied in high pitch protest, one that made Rapunzel freeze from the activity she was doing.

"I just can't stay here anymore Pascal" Rapunzel softly said, the chameleon squeaked another protest speech to her. "Don't worry I wouldn't leave permanently" Pascal raised an eyebrow in disbelief, "We will come back. I just want to go get a glimpse of the world, see if I am really too weak to handle myself out there as mother says I am, please?"

The chameleon looked to his pleading friend's face. He had made a vow to always watch over Rapunzel after she had saved him when he had escaped from some animal smugglers and was on the brink of death. This was her dream though; could he really deny her this chance to live her dream?

Pascal sighed to himself; he sure hoped he knew what he was doing. Pascal climbed up to her shoulder and nuzzled against chin in approval, Rapunzel kissed his tiny scaly head in thanks.

"Okay we'll do it" Rapunzel confidently said, trying to keep her squeal in, "We'll leave tonight"

* * *

><p><strong>Finally another chapter done! What'd you think? What are those romans up to? I wonder what will happen when Rapunzel goes outside? Tune in next chapter as the plot thickens! (I'm such a dork! :P)<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

Rapunzel's heart thumped wildly in her chest as she gripped her hair rope and held a hard gaze the dark colored ground below. "You can do this" Rapunzel commanded to herself harshly, but her feet didn't move. The blonde growled to herself, why couldn't she do it?

A scampering noise appeared behind Rapunzel, she turned to see Pascal pointing towards a drawer in the kitchen. Rapunzel walked over to her friend and opened the drawer to see what she could possibly be so important for her to need.

Inside was the drawer full of knives, Rapunzel bit her lip in recognition in what Pascal was trying to tell her. The blonde reached in, and pulled out the first knife that was on top. It was nothing special, just a standard one she had used many times, but it felt so wrong in her hand right now, since Rapunzel knew what reason she would use this for.

"Good…good thinking Pascal" Rapunzel said awkwardly as she slipped the knife into her basket. She gave a reassuring smile to her companion and held out an elbow for him to climb onto.

Now certain that she had everything, Rapunzel returned back to her hair rope. 'No hesitation this time' Rapunzel told herself as she was now back to square one, she looked to Pascal for some encouragement. The little chameleon had taken a piece of Rapunzel's hair and tied himself with it, now that he was secure gave her the thumbs up, Rapunzel laughed at her friend.

Rapunzel took one more deep breath before she jumped and plunged into the darkness. Faster and faster she slid down, the excitement ready to burst out of her as the ground became closer and closer. 'Wait!' Her conscience screamed as she came to an abrupt stop, mere inches above the seemingly dark blue grass.

This was the moment, the moment that she could crawl into to her tower and listen to her mother or she could take control of her own life and change it forever…

Rapunzel let her foot slide down and it made contact with the outside world for the first time ever. "The grass is wet!" Rapunzel exclaimed as it poked through the cracks of her toes "This must be what mother calls dew." She immediately let go of her hair and laid down in the grass belly first.

"This is what I've been missing" Rapunzel squealed as she rolled around, not caring that the dew was getting her clothes damp.

A crazy loud laugh then escaped Rapunzel and echoed through the night life. She quickly slapped a hand over her mouth, and looked to see if her mother heard her. When she was certain that she was okay, she jumped up and dug in her basket for her cloak.

It took about a good five minutes for Rapunzel to get all hair in the pouch, and with one tight double knot for the necktie, she was ready. Rapunzel stood up and just as she had expected, her hair didn't weigh her down even if it was bunched up, thank goodness the magic made her hair lighter than air. Now that she was complete, Rapunzel's feet took charge and started making her break into a run.

It was a wonderful high for Rapunzel, even though she knew about this part of the outside world; it was so different seeing it at ground level than from a bird's eye view.

Rapunzel gave one more glance over her shoulder to the place that serviced as her home for the past seventeen years; her footsteps suddenly became smaller the more and more the guilt started building up inside her.

"No" Rapunzel said as she threw aside the vine curtain that her mother disappeared behind every day, now it was her turn, "I will be back, I promise"

* * *

><p>"It's only been an hour?" Rapunzel exclaimed to herself while gazing at the pocket watch. Rapunzel sighed as she slipped the watch back into her basket, "It feels a lot longer than that"<p>

It might as well have been hours since she left her tower for all she really knew. After a couple of wrong turns, Pascal had been able to lead her to a trail from what his memory had served him from about seven years ago, he was quite amazing sometimes. When they had finally reached the dirt path though, the little chameleon was out of familiarity and could no longer be of service.

Pascal began to get fidgety with guilt for not having a good start to being her guardian while they were in the outside world.

"Don't feel bad at all Pascal" Rapunzel said to the small creature that was snuggly sitting between her neck and her cloaks hood. "It shouldn't be far before we reach somewhere"

Just as Rapunzel said that thought, she stepped on a sharp rock, "Ow!" the teen exclaimed as she hopped off to the side of the trail painfully. Pascal immediately scurried down of Rapunzel and took the rock out that was stuck in her foot.

"Thanks Pascal" Rapunzel said as she rubbed her hurt foot, this trail was a lot harder than the grass and tile floors, maybe she should consider getting a pair of shoes.

Suddenly there was a rumbling somewhere down the trail. Rapunzel looked to see a wagon be pulled what must have been a horse, and in the seat was a man, the first man she had seen her whole life. The wagon passed Rapunzel as she pushed herself more back into the shadows.

Rapunzel gazed to the wagon as it rolled further and further away. "Come on Pascal!" Rapunzel exclaimed as she grabbed her pet and hurried after the man, just maybe this man would be heading to the place where the floating lights were. It was a long shot, but it was the best opportunity she's gotten so far.

It wasn't very far that Rapunzel had been following the wagon that a kingdom finally came into view. Rapunzel stopped dead in her tracks at the sight of this magnificent place, it was breathtaking.

Rapunzel carefully walked through the entrance with consisted of a high ark that had a bright shining moon symbol with the words Diadema carved around it. Inside was even more beautiful. This place had dark blue and purple stones seemed to be practically glowing in the moonlight. Rapunzel couldn't help it but smile at the sight of all the close knit houses, there was so many people, so many people Rapunzel could talk to, and so many people she could learn from.

A big majestic fountain then caught Rapunzel's attention; it looked like it belonged where it was in the middle of town square. Rapunzel filled her hands with the glittering water and looked at her reflection; it made her look beautiful as if she had a dozen white fireflies around her.

"Watcha doin' lady?" a loud squeaky voice called out causing Rapunzel to jump and spill the water all over her skirt.

Rapunzel turned around to see four kids standing together, three of them standing around the biggest kid; he must've been the leader. Rapunzel had always remembered being a happy little child, but these kids had more of a mischievous look than a playful one, their dirty clothes added to the effect.

"Hello" Rapunzel said brightly, "My name's Rapunzel"

"That's a weird name" one of the girls said as she fiddled with a piece of her hair.

Hurt a little by the comment, she decided to push past it, "I'm a little lost here, can I ask a few questions?"

"Sure" A boy said with a big stick in his hand, "For a price of course"

"A…a price?"

The kids kept coming closer and closer causing Rapunzel to back up, she didn't like the way these kids were talking to her. Suddenly Rapunzel tripped over the edge of the fountain and landed tailbone first into the fountain, glittering water sprayed everywhere. Then Rapunzel felt someone rip her basket out of her hands.

Shocked and slightly betrayed, Rapunzel looked to see the smallest kid out of the group run away with her basket, a little girl with a greasy black braid.

Rapunzel looked back to the leader, who was laughing at her. "Good luck trying to get her" The kid said challengingly, "Dirt maybe a runt, but she's the fastest runner we got"

Without much of a thought process, Rapunzel leapt out of the fountain and started chasing after the girl. She was going to get her basket back.

Though the kid wasn't kidding that this Dirt girl was fast, Rapunzel was having a hard time keeping up with her, it felt like that faster she ran the more distance was put between her and Dirt. If it hadn't been for Pascal's good sense of seeing hidden things, she would have lost the kid a long time ago.

Unfortunately Rapunzel's luck didn't last as she turned down a street and lost sight of Dirt completely. Rapunzel turned to her companion, but he could only give her a disappointed head shake. "Dang it!" Rapunzel gritted through her teeth, how was she supposed to prove to mother she could handle herself if she couldn't deal with a group of kids.

Rapunzel suddenly felt a sense of fear course through her as a pain erupted from her side. The blonde couldn't help herself as a yelp escaped her lips and she pressed her hand firmly on the ach. What was happening to her? 'No' she thought to herself as she realized what this feeling was, but she just couldn't believe it. Was she really getting a cramp in her side?! 'I am I really chubby like mother says I am' Rapunzel could feel her self-esteem dwindle a little as she put her hands on her side to feel her figure, maybe she really had over done it on eating all those cookies she had kept baking every day for about a month now.

A scream then rang through the air as Rapunzel saw a now fallen over barrel. Crawling out of the barrel was that small Dirt child, still with Rapunzel's basket clutched in her tiny arms.

"Dirt!" The little girl jumped in terror at the sound of Rapunzel's voice and began racing down an alleyway.

"No wait!" Rapunzel called out desperately as she plunged into the alleyway just in time to see Dirt's small figure turn left out of it.

Rapunzel rounded the corner herself and saw Dirt climbing up the side of a rundown building by a rope. The little girl caught sight of her pursuing victim, "Give… give it up gullible!" Dirt shouted with clearly false confidence, "There's no way you could catch me now!"

Gullible, another word Rapunzel's mother had used to describe her whenever she had tried to ask to go outside in the past. Rapunzel's hands clenched into fists, she was so determined to prove to her mother that she was strong enough to handle herself out here, and she wasn't going to have Dirt try and make it otherwise.

Gripping the rope felt just like she was going to go for a climb on her hair. With one push off the ground Rapunzel was easily catching up to Dirt. Speaking of which, decided to glance down and her smile melted right off her face, she has underestimated this prey. This caused Rapunzel to climb even faster, her upper body strength she had built over the many years of doing this activity gave her the confidence that she wasn't even in the slightest bit in danger of giving out.

Rapunzel leapt onto the roof, to see that Dirt was now hopelessly staring over the other side of the building. Rapunzel wasted no time running over to the child and grabbing her scrawny arm before she could run away.

Dirt looked up to Rapunzel, with slight fear in her eyes? Rapunzel shook away any remorse for the child at this time and grabbed her basket from the little kid's hand, she had to be strong. But when she did that, Dirt collapsed onto the ground and grabbed one of her legs, "Please don't turn me into the guards!" the little girl screamed.

Rapunzel was extremely taken back by this gesture; this had to be another trick, right? Though when Rapunzel looked back to the small child, she was still grabbing her leg and then keeled over in pain as a growl pierced the air, she was hungry.

The blonde sighed as she really felt no reason to punish this Dirt; after all Rapunzel had already decided that she wasn't the kind of person to judge without knowing, just like she had hoped people would treat her. And maybe she was in fact just a scared a little girl…just like she was. "Don't worry I won't turn you into the guards"

Dirt's head shot up to her, pure shock filled her glazed eyes.

"However" Rapunzel continued, putting on her most serious face, "I want to make a deal with you"

"A deal?" Dirt asked completely puzzled as she released Rapunzel's leg, but still remained close to the ground, "What kinda deal?"

Rapunzel began rummaging through her basket, trying to find something worth value. She felt slightly guilty trying to rope a young girl into her own problems, but Rapunzel really needed someone's help. The blonde managed to find what she was looking for, a few copper pieces and an apple. Rapunzel knelt down to the girl and showed her palm to the girl, who looked upon these few pieces of money and food as if she was seeing into a whole treasure chest full of them. "I'll give you these, if you can tell me more about the floating lights"

"Floatin lights?"

"Yes" Rapunzel said hopefully, "The ones that rise every June 21st into the night sky"

"Oh!" Dirt exclaimed, "You're talkin about the releasing of the lanterns dat they do for ta lost princess over in ta Kingdom of Corona"

"Lanterns!" Rapunzel smiled widely, _'I knew they weren't stars'_

Rapunzel clasped her hands together earnestly, "Where is this Kingdom of Corona?"

Dirt looked up to the night sky, and pointed up wards, "From dat constellation dat's shaped like a W, see?" Rapunzel followed the little girl's point of view and saw the constellation twinkling in the night sky, she knew it well from the chart that was painted up in her tower, "You just follow it west dat way and you'll end up at our brother Kingdom"

Rapunzel couldn't help but mentally slap herself; she had chosen the wrong path! Man was she a dunce! Well she had least gotten her answers, so it hadn't been a total waste. "Thank you so much!" Rapunzel said bubbling with joy as she poured the money and apple into Dirt's hand, "Here you go"

The small girl didn't do anything but stare at the money, and then she looked back up Rapunzel and asked, "You…you gave me ta money and apple?"

"Of course" Rapunzel said with a raised eyebrow, "A deals a deal"

"But…people don't keep promises" Dirt said, "Chunk said dat you can neber trust people, you just have ta take"

A small pang of sadness hit into Rapunzel's chest as she looked upon Dirt's small hope-crushed face. This girl had learned not to trust people, from experience and took the word of her leader Chunk, she assumed. What a cruel motto for a child. Rapunzel though put on a gentle smile and scooted closer to Dirt. She reached out and gently closed the little girl's hands around the rewards, "Maybe I'm a different kind of person then"

Rapunzel could hear Dirt sniffle a little as the kid raised her head to the teen, "You'd have had to be to climb like dat in your old age" Dirt said in a somewhat happier tone, giving her a big grin and Rapunzel could see that she was missing a front tooth, so adorable, "Are you part spider monkey or sum'fin?"

It made Rapunzel feel better on the inside to hear her joking, even though she had no idea what a spider monkey was, so she just went along with her, "You caught me!" Rapunzel said with an overly exaggerated arm throw, "Let's just keep that secret between us though"

"O-ta!" The two girls giggled at their stupid joke, when their laughter finally settled down though there was a slightly uncomfortable atmosphere.

"I know I've been kinda a meanie" Dirt said nervously, "I'm weally sorry"

Rapunzel could feel her eyes go wide,_' what a confusing child' _but how could she refuse to not accept her apology with those big brown doe eyes that were staring at her. "It's no problem; you just should get going home before your mother starts worrying about you"

Dirt's face dropped down, "Oh I don't have a—"

The small girl was then cut off by the sound of an alarm bell going off in the distant, making Dirt gasp and freeze up in total shock.

"What's going on Dirt?!" Rapunzel shouted as she covered her ears to block out the loud noise

"It's ta alarm system!" Dirt said as she too covered her ears, "It means a bad boat is coming!"

* * *

><p><strong>Where's Hiccup?! Don't worry folks; we'll see him in the next chapter. I had tried to see if I could fit him in here, but the more I thought about, the more I wanted to focus on our girl getting started on her adventure. But how well will this adventure turn out for Rapunzel? Guess we'll have to see! Stay tuned! <strong>

**P.S. I don't actually know what day Rapunzel's birthday is, but June 21****st**** is the summer solstice and longest day of summer, thought it would make since for Blondie**


	4. Chapter 4

Rapunzel clutched Dirt's hand with all her might as she let the small child lead her through the many twists and turns of streets and alleyways that would help block out the sound of chaos that was happening in the center of the Kingdom. Fear coursed through Rapunzel's body, the teen was certain that if Dirt wasn't holding her hand, she would have completely frozen up a long time ago.

The blonde still couldn't completely register what had just happened for the last couple minutes. Dirt and Rapunzel had watched in astonishment as the 'bad ships' came into view, a massive Eagle was stitched into their sails as they clustered together, creating a menacing army of Eagles. They docked without much difficulty, even with the canon and ship defense that the navy had set up; and once the intruders began pouring out of their ships, all hell broke loose.

The girls slid down the rope into the chaos of people down below. Rapunzel had one hand in Dirt's and the other clutching her cloaks tie to keep her hood from falling off her head and so Pascal wouldn't fly off her shoulder.

"Who's attacking us!?" Rapunzel heard a voice ask from a group of men that were huddled in an alleyway. Curious to know what kind of ruffins she was exactly up against; Rapunzel pulled Dirt towards the group to hear the conversation better.

"Romans!" One of them answered in a fearful tone

"Romans!?" Another exclaimed, "But they've never come here!"

"I think they are rounding up slaves" an older one explained, "I saw them inspecting people on the gangway"

"Who cares what their reason may be!" one shouted in panicky tone, "Just get the hell away from here before they slaughter you!"

Dirt cried out in fear and now stood completely petrified. Shooting the man an anger look for scaring Dirt, Rapunzel scooped up the girl in her arms and shot out of the alleyway with one destination in mind, home. Rapunzel had seen enough to know that she wasn't ready for this world; her mother was right. But Rapunzel was going to take Dirt home with her; no way could she just leave her. She would give anything and everything to convince her mother not force Dirt back into this horrid world.

"Still doing alright Pascal?" Rapunzel asked her scaly friend. The chameleon gave her a thumbs up in reply as he clutched onto one of her golden locks.

Though a second later, Pascal suddenly squeaked out as he urgently pointed over Rapunzel's shoulder. The teen glanced over to see a tall, burly man with the same Eagle marking on his chest as the enemy ship had, he was a Roman, and he was coming straight for her.

The blonde tried to pick up her speed, but it seemed like the faster she tried to move, the smaller the gap between her and the Roman got. Knowing that she would get caught, Rapunzel still wanted to protect Dirt and Pascal; unfortunately Rapunzel could only think of one way she could do that.

Rapunzel quickly placed the girl on the ground and grabbed the kitchen knife out of the basket. She then kneeled down to Dirt and shoved the basket and Pascal in the young girl's arms, "Dirt and Pascal, run as far and as fast as you can!"

Dirt and Pascal looked at the teen confused, "But what about you?"

"I'll be alright" Rapunzel said with what she knew was complete false confidence, but it sounded convincing enough, "I'll find you later…now go!" With slight hesitation at first, Rapunzel watched as the little girl ran away from the teen and rounded a corner, she would be safe.

The Roman's hand then roughly gripped Rapunzel's arm. Rapunzel awkwardly gripped the knife's handle as she swung out and swiped the man's face. Crimson blood poured out of the wound, and Rapunzel couldn't help her stomach from turning in knots.

She had always healed wounds; she never caused them.

The man turned back to her with anger in his eyes as he grabbed Rapunzel's wrist and twisted it; Rapunzel screamed in pain as the knife dropped from her hand. The Roman then lifted Rapunzel up and slammed her onto his shoulder plate none too lightly. Pain erupted in Rapunzel's ribcage as the Roman began walking away with her.

Tears stung Rapunzel's eyes, 'At least they're safe' Rapunzel tried to think positively.

Suddenly the Roman cried out in pain and lifted up his arm. Rapunzel looked to see Dirt attached to it, her teeth digging into his arm with Pascal pounding his little fists against the Roman's arm as well.

"No!" Rapunzel cried out desperately, "I told you to run!"

The blonde's cry was ignored though as the Roman yelled something in a strange language and flung Dirt and Pascal off his arm as if they were just some pesky insects. The Roman then leaned down and picked Dirt up by the scruff of her neck, and threw her over his shoulder; leaving an unconscious Pascal on the ground.

"Pascal!" Rapunzel sobbed as she hopelessly reached for her scaly friend, but Pascal still didn't respond to her call.

Rapunzel and Dirt scratched, bit, and resisted with all their might, but the Roman wouldn't budge, he would only tighten his hold on them as he trudged through the kingdom. And before Rapunzel knew it, they were in front of the enemy ship. Rapunzel could see on what she assumed to be the gangway, there was in fact a long line of Romans; each of them holding a Diadema civilian or two.

At the very front of the line, Rapunzel saw a man, a man that was complete hairless, no eyelashes or hair, nothing. As Rapunzel was moved up the line, she saw the pattern of a Roman presenting a civilian to the bald man, than if he nodded the civilian was thrown into an opening that led to the lower part of the ship, but if he shook his head, than the person was thrown off the gangway and into the water, no hesitation what so ever.

When it was Rapunzel and Dirt's turn, fear coursed through her as she realized that the bald ruffin was also equipped with a long gleaming hook instead of a right hand, just like her mother had described to her.

The tall man lifted Dirt up towards the hook man. After a few contemplating expressions, the bald man nodded. "Throw her in" The hook man replied as he polished the malicious looking weapon, "The over-grown lizard might like a snack" The Roman nodded to the order and threw Dirt into the ship.

"Dirt!" Rapunzel screamed as she strained against the giant man's grip to try and go after the small girl. The hook man then roughly grabbed her jaw and brought her face towards his.

"And what do we have here…a young fresh girl?" Bald man lightly ran the pointed end of his hook down Rapunzel's cheek as a sinister smile spread across his face, "It'll like you just fine"

The Hook man motioned his head towards the ship and released Rapunzel. The burly man rolled Rapunzel off his shoulder and made his way towards the ships hatchway.

"No!" Rapunzel protested as she kicked with all her might, but it made no difference. Rapunzel painfully knew in her heart that it was all over for her.

The blonde felt tears form in her eyes as she was dropped into the ship, "NOOOOOOOO!"

* * *

><p>"Watch 't Hiccup!" Gobber exclaimed as he scarcely dogged a fiery sword tip, "I don't need anothar prost'etic limb!"<p>

"Sorry Gobber" Hiccup replied without much sincerity to his apology, as he continued to turn around confusingly with the hot metal still in his hand.

Gobber raised an eyebrow, "You okay?"

"Yeah…yeah I'm fine…" Hiccup said as he shook his head, "I just had a bad feeling just wash over me"

Gobber chuckled, "Don't tell me you inherited yur' grandpa's future seein' _powers_?"

"Of course not" Hiccup shouted in protest, "I'm not that much of a crazy"

"Oh really?" Gobber said in disbelief

"I'm serious!" Hiccup exclaimed, "I just thought I heard a girl screaming…"

"Yes, tha' definitely doesn't sound crazy" Gobber laughed at his apprentice

"Oh shut up" Hiccup said as he stuck the sword tip in a bucket of cooling water, "Don't make me stick you with this sword tip"

"Alright, alright" Gobber said with a smile, "Calm down toothpick"

"I don't know if I can promise that Gobber" Hiccup quipped back with a smirk, "The Viking inside me is burning to come out!"

That comment caused Gobber to bellow out a laugh, "Ok, you call me when that happens" Hiccup couldn't help but laugh with his mentor, it was little moments like this that made Hiccup feel liked he belonged. There were only a few people that made him feel like that: His grandfather Old Wrinkly, Camicazi, and Gobber were exactly those few people.

"Oh crap" Gobber then sighed, "Left my saw appendage at the house"

The blacksmith grabbed his long horned helmet and placed it on his head. "I'll be back in about two hours the most…that should give me enough time to find 't"

Hiccup sighed to his mentor, "You need a woman to help keep that house of yours from being buried under your filth"

"Needin' a woman huh?" Gobber smiled, "I could say the same thing t' you"

Hiccup shook at the older Viking as he exited, laughing at his own joke. The teen then moved back to working on his latest sword tip, he needed to get the newest batch of weapons ready for whenever the next dragon raid would strike.

Hiccup stifled a great yawn and hastily rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, trying to regain focus. He had been working nonstop since dawn this morning and was completely exhausted, but it's wasn't like he would really go anywhere else without getting ridiculed. Though he wasn't doing too good as he bumped against a table and knocked a bunch of tools to the ground. Hiccup blew a piece of his choppy hair out of his face and bent down to pick up his mess.

"Hello Hiccup" a soft feminine voice said that caused Hiccup's body to freeze up completely

Hiccup swallowed hard, as he saw a familiar pair of legging covered legs swung in front of him "Hey Skullette"

Hiccup's eyes followed up to the body that had been making more and more of an appearance in his life in the last couple of weeks. He finally made it to her blue eyes as she leisurely now sat in the spot where the tools had fallen from. Averting his eyes from the teen girl, Hiccup placed the tools right next to Skullette, and at that moment her hand shot out and was placed on top of his.

"You've been ignoring me" Skullette pouted as she twirled a piece of her white blonde hair, which is how she had inherited her name.

"Well…well you know me" Hiccup replied nervously as he pulled his hand away from hers, "Been busy with work here at the forge" Hiccup turned from Skullette, only to knock his hip against the bench, he sucked in a curse through his teeth.

Hiccup felt Skullette's arm hook around his neck, "Oh you poor dear" she cooed as she grazed a fingernail across his collarbone. Hiccup's toes curled into the bottom of his boot while his face burned, why did she have to be so…in the way?

The guy wasn't stupid, Skullette didn't waste her time here because she actually wanted to be with Hiccup; she was just simply killing time. Everyone knew that Skullette manipulated every living thing on this island, mostly male, to do her biddings, but her gentle and exotic face gave her such a distraction that no one really went against her ways. It was this nature of hers that separated her from any other woman on the island; she drank in compliments about her lovely delicateness as a Viking man would drink a mug of mead. This morning it had been Fishlegs to get some free bread from his parents shop, and that afternoon it had been Snotlout so he would take care of the chickens for her. Hiccup could easily make the presumption that Skullette was here so he could serve as her evening entertainment.

She was the beauty and Hiccup was the screw-up, but he knew this wasn't going to turn out like some happy fairy tale.

"Look I got something's to do" Hiccup hastily said as he slipped out of her grip and aimlessly rummaged through his pile of tools.

Skullette sighed as she fell back onto her hands, "Why do you bother with such trifle things?"

Hiccup groaned quietly to himself in response to that comment, she was just like everyone else, Hiccup's real interests were nothing but useless.

"You're so strange" Skullette continued, "You don't take interest in the most extraordinary things…even the ones that are right in front of you" Skullette purred as the strap of her tunic slipped over her shoulder, exposing more pale white skin.

Hiccup couldn't help swallowing hard; he quickly turned away from the Viking girl, trying to keep his blush hidden from her. "W-well you know me"

"You're such a good boy Hiccup" He could hear Skullette sigh, "Don't you think I'm attractive?"

"Yeah" Hiccup said automatically, the faster he gave her what she wanted to hear, the faster she would leave.

"Hmmm" Skullette replied, sounding as if she wasn't satisfied with his answer, "What about Astrid?"

Hiccup jumped in surprised at the question, "W-well she's…" Hiccup just wanted to give a short answer, but then the words just tumbled out of his mouth, "She's pretty and amazing, and any guy would be lucky to be able to be with her" Hiccup sighed, She's a prodigy Viking with a name that means divine beauty, she's definitely some woman"

"Oh…" Skullette replied, venom dripping in her tone of voice

A silent curse passed Hiccup's mind, he'd let his stupid feelings for Astrid block from his goal of getting rid of Skullette. "Like I said, I have things to do" Hiccup said and quickly added, "And a pretty girl like you doesn't need to around such _brutish_ things." The teen hoped that the strategy worked, a lame excuse but it was covered in honey. Hiccup felt slight relief as he heard her giggle, but something felt off about it.

"Something like this" Skullette said as pulled a blue print out from behind her, it was for the bolos invention he had just created yesterday.

"Hey give that back!" Hiccup exclaimed as he desperately tried to grab the blueprint from the teen.

It wasn't until Skullette giggled that he really realized that position he had put himself in. Hiccup was practically on top of Skullette, he was close enough to see her purposefully reddened cheeks. Skullette lowered her eyelids as a coy smile curled on her lips; he had fallen into her trap.

Hiccup backed off quickly, but his legs betrayed him greatly as Hiccup tripped over a battle hammer that was on the ground and crashed onto the floor.

Hiccup could hear Skullette laugh; great he had just made a fool of himself again.

"What are you doin' in there Hiccup!?" Gobber's thick Scottish voice rang out…oh no, "Not even 15 minutes I leave you for! If you broke—oh!" Great, this is just what Hiccup needed.

"Skullette!" Gobber said in a shocked tone that he tried to cover up with a cough, "What are you doin' here?"

"Just here to see if my sword is done yet" Skullette said innocently as she hopped off the table and smoothed out her tunic.

Gobber looked at the girl, still not entirely sure whether he could believe that or not, "Not yet, but we'll have 't ready for you before dragon trainin' rolls around"

"Thank you so much Gobber!" Skullette clasped her hands together, "I'm kinda nervous for dragon training and I know I can always trust your weapons!"

Hiccup couldn't believe what he was seeing as he saw a slight blush crawl onto Gobber's cheeks from Skullette's comment. The teen could tell that Skullette definitely knew how to use her skills to her greatest advantages.

"Well I should leave you two brutish men to your work, it's no place for a girl" Skullette sweetly said as she exited the shop with a little bounce in her step.

Gobber's smile dropped from his face when Skullette was completely out of sight as turned back to his apprentice and asked bluntly, "So what was really goin' on here?"

After letting out a sigh, Hiccup picked himself off the ground, "Nothing" He responded bitterly as Hiccup refused to face Gobber, he just wanted to let the situation die from his memory fast.

Hiccup took the silence as Gobber's choice to let the matter drop, and he was grateful for it.

"Well I need you t' do somethin' for me then" Gobber said changing the subject, "I can't find Phil anywhere, so I need you go check the forest?"

"Why me?" Hiccup groaned, the last thing he needed to do late at night was look for Gobber's flee bitten animal.

"Because no one knows the forest better than you"

"And if I say no…?"

* * *

><p>"Stupid crusty, old blacksmith" Hiccup fumed as he kicked a rock out of his path, "Threatening to make my ears bleed from his insufferable yodeling just because he can't keep track of his sheep"<p>

Now that may not sound as horrible of a threat to some people, but when Gobber threatens to yodel, you'll wish you were dead. Yodeling was an unfortunate skill Gobber had picked up from his Swiss mother, and that man could do it all day for a record of two weeks straight. Hiccup had experienced this so called 'talent' more than once in his life, so he more than motivated to get his butt out of the shop, across the bridge, and into the forest to do the unfortunate task.

Hiccup grumbled as he kept trudging through the forest as he glanced up at the darkening sky, not that that a night stroll through the forest would really worry him. Gobber hadn't been wrong about Hiccup knowing practically every inch of this forest, for he had spent almost all of his childhood in these woods, even more so when the group got old enough to start dividing between Vikings and other. Hiccup knew the right foot holds to scale the tallest trees, where fresh streams flowed, and where wild, nonpoisonous berry bushes grew.

This was also the place that Hiccup went dragon watching. That's right, not hunting or slaying, watching. Well he had actually tried slaying once; he ended up almost losing a finger to a baby terrible terror though. So after that, Hiccup loved his appendages too much to approach any other dragon until he didn't have the reflexes of a dead cat.

What fascinated Hiccup the most about observing the dragons though, was their language. These creatures would communicate through a series of tones, each noise unique as if they were words and sentences; Old Wrinkly had told him that this language was called Dragonese. And just between Hiccup and himself, he had actually been able to pick up a word or two. Well actually his grandfather Old Wrinkly knew about his dragon watching, but that was because his grandfather was the only person that he could trust.

What he loved most about this forest though, was that the wide open space invited him to let his thoughts float free. Which is what he needed right now, especially with what just happened with Skullette.

As Hiccup had noticed before, Skullette played her strategy on everyone; but he had to admit, it was a little strange that she hadn't actually asked for something from him yet. "Probably wants to see me act like a fool" Hiccup sighed rubbing his probably bruised backside, "At least Astrid just ignores me"

Though now that he was on the subjects of girls, Hiccup knew for a fact that he had heard a girls voice screaming, course this wasn't the first time he had heard this girl's voice. He blamed his grandfather.

His grandfather, village elder and so called "psychic", had made a prediction a few months ago, that Hiccup's fate was intertwined with a girl, and together they would change everything. Hiccup had the hope that the girl that Old Wrinkly was talking about Astrid, that certainly would be a shock and change basically everything. But nothing had changed over the course of a couple of months, and on top of that Hiccup had been hearing a voice.

He never heard the feminine voice actually say something, but sometimes when he was by himself he would hear her crying, or laughing, and most of all, singing. Today though had been the first time he had heard that voice actually vocalize something. Hiccup really wished he could ask a village elder for help, but the last thing he needed was to name a crazy on top of being a screw up.

Sliding down a giant hill, Hiccup pulled his mind back to the task at hand, though there was still no sign of Phil. It was a surprise to him that Gobber, with a heart made of sharp jagged rocks, could feel so concerned about another living creature.

"Probably because it reminds Gobber of himself" Hiccup humored to himself

Moving through a few rocks, Hiccup came to face to face with an incredible view. The cove he was now looking into felt like a whole other world.

Carefully sliding down the rock wall face, Hiccup took in the full sight of this place. It was so calm and peaceful here, from the soft flowing water fall to the thick growing foliage. It was like nothing had every touched the beauty in this cove.

Hiccup couldn't help himself as he plopped down into the cool grass, the stars shining bright above his head. The night sky looked so vast and large from here that someone could get lost in it up there. Getting lost, yet another skill Hiccup didn't have. Which was actually quite funny since everyone tried to forget about Hiccup, but he could never seem to get lost in the crowd, he was just that…special, for lack of a better word.

A cold breeze then swept through that chilled Hiccup to his core, he guessed it was time to go before he caught some gods-forsaken disease. Hiccup didn't really want to go through; this place gave off a sense of serenity to Hiccup. However he knew if he didn't keep looking to try and find Phil, he would hear Gobber sound like a worried mother for the next couple days.

After climbing his way back up the rock wall, Hiccup couldn't help but get one more look at the cove. Glancing over his shoulder, the cove really looked like a paradise compared to his world; Hiccup would really have to remember this place.

Who knew, it might come in handy in the future.

* * *

><p><strong>AUTHOR'S NOTE <strong>

**Another chapter done! Oh no Rapunzel has been captured! And Hiccup is being tormented by that Skullette :( Whatever shall happen to our heroes!?**

**SOOOOOO Sorry it took me a while to get this chapter done, college was murder! But luckily I survived my first quarter! My new year present to my fellow readers! HAPPY NEW YEAR! **


	5. Chapter 5

"Did you hear about the Smith's daughter?"

"Sally?"

"What about her?"

"She ran off with the Lawrence boy last week"

"What!?"

"Yep, should've seen Rob when he came here lookin' for them"

"That bad?"

"Let's just say that that boy better hope he never gets found"

An amused smiled broke out on Gothel's face as she listened from her favorite corner of the Rotten Pig Tavern as she listened into the scandalous conversation that was fluttering around the pub.

Gothel loved the moments she had, observing these types of mortals in their natural habitat. How they drained away their lives by poisoning their liver with the cheap spirits and burned their lungs with the foul smelling tobacco. Gothel couldn't help but let the pride build up in her chest as she took another swig of her mead, knowing that when she got back to the tower and got a dose of the golden lily's power, the alcohol would be completely sucked out of her system.

Gothel had been skeptical about being out all night and leaving Rapunzel alone without her knowing, but after she had punished the 13 year old Rapunzel by showing her that book full of fictional horror stories, she had become confident enough that the girl wouldn't try to disobey her, especially how Rapunzel had clung to Gothel every time she returned home.

It's not that Gothel utterly despised Rapunzel; it had been nice to have the young girl around since she hadn't seen her own daughter in about 200 years and her mother in longer. But her emerging rebellious nature was starting to take its toll more on the old woman, especially on her appearances.

Like at this very moment as Gothel looked to the mirror that hung on the wall across from her and she could feel that something was off about the reflection that was gazing at her. The witch's question was answered as she noticed her crow's eyes were coming back sooner than usual.

"Oh that girl" Gothel sighed as she turned her head towards the other wall, "Her constant nagging about those lanterns must be stressing me out more than I thought"

'Maybe letting her get married like that Sarah girl wouldn't be such a bad thing?' Gothel thought to herself, 'It would give her at least something to keep her from thinking about those insufferable lanterns'

Of course Gothel wouldn't just choose anybody. It would have to be a mama's boy, someone who would never go against her word, such as the wash boy of this pub. Gothel couldn't help but be envious of how the teenager cowered in fear as he followed the every order of the middle aged women who was the mistress of this place; someone like him would be perfect. Plus, if the two were to have a child, than the flowers healing power's might just pass on to the child. Than if Rapunzel were to become too much of a handful, and have an 'accident', then she would still have a power source.

"What a delicious idea" Gothel smiled into her mug as took a small sip, and then delicately pattered a rag to her lips, "I will have to come back to that idea later"

Suddenly the pub door was burst open, "Diadema has been attacked!" The young man in the doorway shouted, his eyes were full of fear with his clothes tattered and covered in dirt

"Whoa there" One of the older men said as he grabbed the young man's shoulder and sat him down in an empty chair, "What are you talking about Jack?"

"Like I said!" The young man shook in his chair, "Diadema was attacked by Romans last night!"

Gasps and chattering filled the small pub at the sound of something so horrendous, not to mention something involving the famed blood seeking Romans. Gothel would have laughed if it had not been for her location, mortals were truly entertaining.

"I felt bad, I couldn't save anyone" Jack said in a trembling voice as he drained a mug that was passed to him by a young barmaid, "Especially this girl that was snatched up by a Roman right in front of me"

"Just be lucky you got of there" The barmaid said as she placed her hands on Jack's shoulders, "Them Romans are brutal I heard"

"But she was right in front of me!" Jack exclaimed, "And it's not like I could just forget about her, I keep seeing her golden blonde hair, she had to be around sixteen or so and she was barefoot too!"

"Damn" A man sighed, "The young ones always have to be taken"

"Then it's lucky for her!" One man exclaimed, "That's one less girl that doesn't need to be terrified by you and your mustache!"

The group of men continued a conversation around the young man Jack, but Gothel could no longer hear them over the sound of the blood rushing in her ears. A young blonde girl that was barefoot.

It couldn't be Rapunzel. She wouldn't dare go back on Gothel's golden rule. She would never. But there's always been the possibility that she could and would…

Gothel immediately ran out of the pub, ignoring the insults that were shouted at her as she pushed past anyone who got in her way.

The old woman continued down the familiar forest path making sure her pace didn't get slower, even as her century old lungs began burn in pain. 'It makes sense that Rapunzel would end up in Diadema' Gothel thought to herself, 'I made sure the tower was far out enough that even somebody native to the forest could never find the tower…but I actually wish Rapunzel had found her way to Corona…'

Gothel finally burst through the vine curtain and saw the faithful tower shining in the morning sun.

"Rapunzel!" Gothel shouted, which sounded more like a strangled scream than any actual words, "Let down your hair!"

Gothel hoped with all her might that the magic hair would get thrown out of that tower and all her worrying would have been for nothing, she had hoped. When the seconds ticked by and yet still nothing happened, Gothel lost her patience.

The old witch immediately ran over to the door that she had kept under secret for almost 18 years. She ripped the crumbling stones from the tower and clambered up the stairs, this couldn't be real, her worst nightmare being brought to life.

Running quickly up the stairs, Gothel burst through the trapdoor, the tower was unusually quiet and dark for this time of day.

"Rapunzel!" The old woman exclaimed as she ran up to the girl's room and ripped back the quilts on her bed.

She was not there.

Gothel ran back down the stairs, her eyes looking for any sign of the blonde teenager. She ripped off the curtains to Rapunzel's favorite nook.

She was not there either.

Gothel grabbed her hair in frustration as she collapsed into a chair at the dining table, how could this have happened!?

Bringing her fist down angrily against the dining table, the witch noticed as a folded up piece of paper fluttered to the floor. Gothel reached down and picked up the paper off the ground, _'Mother'_ was written on the front so neatly that it could only be Rapunzel's. Gothel hastily unfolded the paper, her eyes quickly skimming over the words.

_Dear Mother,_

_I am sorry to defy you like this, but I can't just stay in this tower anymore, only dreaming other the outside world. I have gone to find out more about the floating lights, and not from my window, but in person. I have to know what they are._

_I will show you that I'm stronger than you may think I am._

_I will be back as soon as I can._

_Loving you always,_

_Rapunzel_

With her hands shaking in fury, Gothel tore the note into tiny little pieces angrily letting them fall to the floor.

But that wasn't enough for her, she had kept everything under control for almost eighteen years and now it had been all for nothing, Gothel picked up the glass bowl that always sat on the kitchen table and threw it against a wall. The shattering sound helped calm the woman's nerves, but only slightly.

Gothel's eyes hardened as she headed towards her room. She had tried to go about this whole Rapunzel situation the calm way, but now it was time for her to take hard measures, like she should have done in the first place.

It was time for her to become the grand, powerful witch that she had been so many years before.

With a snap of her fingers, the wooden dummy that had taken her place in Gothel's bed retreated back in its form until it was nothing but a tiny seed.

Gothel then proceeded to open a secret door that had been hidden under a rug, the smell of spices filled the witch's nose. She hastily reached into the chamber and pulled out a basket and a few jars filled with various plants and herbs and walked back to the kitchen and pulled out a large cauldron.

Gothel rolled up her sleeves, it really had been so long that she had done magic; hopefully she wouldn't be too rusty. She couldn't be too hasty though, she would have to use a location spell to see if the man in the pub had in fact seen Rapunzel. And if this was the unfortunate truth, she would go get a ship and head towards the Romans. And what they had done, they would be severely punished; blood would have to spilt, and drip into the ocean in large beads.

Reaching for the correct jar, Gothel took off the jars lid and inhaled the smell of the magical herb, oh how she had missed this. It had definitely been too long.

Plants had always called to the women with their delicate petals and intoxicating perfumes that held such a great deal of power that Gothel couldn't help but smile as she continued to put the correct ingredients into the cauldron.

She had thought about teaching Rapunzel magic as well. Though with one daughter already in the magic business, Gothel couldn't risk having to worry about two girls with magic powers, if both of them decided to go against her she would be forced to destroy both of them. People forgot that witches were still humans with emotions, living a childless life would still break Gothel's heart. After all it was the reason her mother only had ever had her.

After making sure the cauldron was hot and the ingredients so far were stirred thoroughly, Gothel went to Rapunzel's room to acquire the last ingredient needed for the spell.

Being as careful as she could, the old witch extracted a long brunette hair from one of her pillows. Because the magic was infused with the hair, Rapunzel didn't lose hair regularly like any normal person, but every once in a while, a hair would fall out. Gothel rushed back downstairs and threw the hair strand into the now boiling mixture.

Gothel gave a short prayer for her not to have lost her edge. A smile broke across the older witch's face as she looked to see the green bubbling liquid clearing, an image forming.

"There you are" Gothel said as she saw Rapunzel as she sat in corner, huddled in a tight ball. She had a cloak hood pulled over her head, but Gothel could see her puffy, red eyes caused from crying, a man walked by her jail cell with a bronze eagle shining on his chest, the Roman symbol.

"Serves you right for being caught" Gothel sneered as with a wave of her hand the image and magical contents evaporated, "I had warned you countless times"

Now that she had the where of Rapunzel, now she was going to need something to make sure that when she faced these Romans, she was up to full strength.

The old witch poured out the contents of the basket on the kitchen counter. Out came the old roots and stem of the golden flower from long ago. The fools in the castle had thrown out the rest of the plant when they had extracted the flower part, thinking that the rest of the plant was useless; not knowing the every single fiber of the plant held the power of the shining sun.

Gothel through the roots into the now empty cauldron and then added a few drops of some holy spring water that could pull out the pure magical contents of any item and form it into a liquid.

A small glowing cloud puffed out of the cauldron as soon as the water hit the roots. When the smoke finally died down, Gothel looked into the cauldron with a frown crossing her features. The magic glowing juice that was in the cauldron would only fill up her waterskin once; she wouldn't be able to be greedy with the magic power until she got Rapunzel back.

Then Gothel would make sure that Rapunzel would never leave her again, even if that meant the girl would be living the rest of her existence with shackle and chain so tight on her ankle, she would rub her skin raw and bleed if she even did so much as to walk too much.

Rapunzel would become a prisoner for all of time.

* * *

><p>"Positive thoughts" Gothel said to herself as she continued to trek down the dirt path, her satchel of supplies hanging at her side. She needed to keep thinking positive thoughts, too much negativity would leave self-inflicted stress marks that she didn't need right now.<p>

The sound of smashed glass brought Gothel back to the real world. At the old witches feet laid a small unconscious man, his face decorated with red and purple bruises. Gothel looked to her right to see that the man had come from a pub called 'The Snuggly Duckling.'

"Hmmm" Gothel said as she examined for beaten man at her feet, maybe it wouldn't be too bad of an idea to get a mortal to take care of any unnecessary physical work until she got to Rome.

As if some higher force was listening to Gothel, the front door of the Snuggly Duckling burst open and three men exited out. Two of them were twins both of them with ginger hair and largely built, one had an eye patch though and one had scars on his chin. The third one was actually quite attractive with his lean built; goatee and he even had his own satchel.

"I can assure you gentlemen that you are making the correct decision choosing Flynn Rider as the third member of your team" The more appealing one said in a savvy tone, "With me, the Lost Princess's crown is as good as ours!"

"Don't get ahead of yourself hotshot" The one with scars said, "Fulfill the mission first and then we'll see"

"Steal something from one of the Corona Elites; you're making it too easy on me gentlemen" Rider said he hopped onto a scrawny brown horse and headed down the road opposite from Gothel, who was busy forming a plan in her mind. "I'll see you in one week!"

"Do you think we can trust that guy?" The one with the eye patch said with concern once Rider was out of ear shot, "He seems a little too cocky for my liking"

"Look, he's reliable and if he makes it back in a week, can hold his ground" The clearly dominant one replied, "Besides, Rider uses his so called 'charm' to get what he wants not a weapon, so if he doesn't want his head on a spike, he'll won't double cross us"

Simple-minded, bronze-over-brain, and looking for the big score of their life, they were perfect.

"Well said young man" Gothel called out to the two men as she pulled down her cloak's hood and walked over to them

"Who the hell are you?" The scar chinned one said

"Oh please don't be so rude" Gothel said putting a hand on her chest, "I'm just here to offer a proposition to you two gentlemen, one that would be worth ten thousand crowns"

"Oh really?"

"And the best part is you don't have to include this Flynn Rider in the deal, it can be split just between brothers" Gothel said her voice that was sticky sweet as she waved a hand into front of the two men, releasing a tiny amount of something she liked to call 'persuasion pollen'

The old witch watched as the pollen entered the two men systems and could see the curiosity burning in their eyes. "What is exactly is this treasure?" The smaller one asked

"You are truly humorous" Gothel said with a chuckle, holding out her hand as she let a flame chance across her finger tips, "I can't just simply tell you, without you swearing loyalty to me"

"You're a witch!"

"Don't say it like that" Gothel said calmly, "I prefer the term Sorceress anyways"

"You can forget it then!" The leader shouted as he turned and started walking away, his brother following behind him, "No good ever comes from getting tangled with witches!"

"You're right most witches should never be trusted" Gothel called out, "But most witches don't ask for help from humans now do they"

That got their attention as the two of them stopped and turned back to Gothel. Both of them now uncertain of what to think of the witch.

"What exactly kind of services do you need from us?" The older one asked

"To reclaim what is rightfully mine" Gothel said hotly, anger boiling inside of her, "And with your sharp minds and impeccable muscles are exactly what I need to retrieve the treasure"

"Retrieve it from what?" Gothel smiled, these men certainly weren't naïve in making deals

"Not an it, but a her" Gothel explained "And this treasure has been captured by Romans and is currently heading to their homeland"

"Romans!?" The dominant one yelled, "You're not making this deal sound like it's worth our time!"

Gothel sighed; "I guess I'm wasting my time as well" The witch turned on her ankles and started to walk away slowly, waving to the two men, "Farewell gentlemen"

"Wait!" The younger one called out, "What does this girl have that makes her worth so much?"

The witch kept her smile small as she turned back to the two men, hand stuck out, "Swear your loyalty to me, and I will make sure to tell you everything and make sure you are able to touch the treasure that could make you rich beyond your wildest dreams"

The younger was hesitant at first, but then began walking towards the witch, he even shrugged the hand that his brother had firmly clasped on his shoulder to try and stop him. He now stood in front of Gothel, staring intensely down at her with his one good eye.

"You can call me Mother Gothel" The witch said as she stuck her hand of closer to him, "And what is your name?"

The man slowly reached for her hand, but clasped it tightly when he finally reached her hand, "Wiley…Wiley Stabbington"

"Wiley" Gothel said as she let her magic flow to her fingertips and onto Wiley's hand. Gothel smiled as she saw a thorn shape design appear on the man's hand, she had remembered trying to do this on Rapunzel in the first place, but the power of the golden lily that was inside her had rid the dark magic away. It felt good to have full control of her powers again.

Wiley noticed the thorn design and began trying to pull out of Gothel's grasp in panic. The older one sensing his brother distress ran forward and pointed the tip of his sword into Gothel's throat. Gothel released Wiley's hand but didn't move from her spot.

"What did you do to him?" The dominant one snarled as he pressed the sword's tip harder into her throat.

"It's just something to make sure you don't go back on your word without consequence" Gothel said sternly, face emotionless. "As long as he does as I say, no harm will come to him"

The older one kept a snarl on his face as he lowered his sword. Gothel could read expression perfectly, now that his brother had become permanently involved, he felt a sense of responsibility to look out for his younger brother. This was all working out perfectly for Gothel.

"Now for the other brother whose name I don't have the pleasure of knowing" Gothel continued as she stuck out her hand to the dominant one

The dominant one sneered as he clasped the old witch's hand and watched as the thorn design appeared on his hand, "Micajah Stabbington" He said sourly

"Micajah" Gothel said happily as she released the man's hand, "It's so good to meet you both"

"Spare the formal introduction" Micajah spat out as he rubbed the mark uncomfortably, "We're bound to you now, so spill about this girl of yours"

A wicked smile crossed Gothel face, "Trust me boys, you won't be disappointed with what I have to tell you…"

To Be Continued…

* * *

><p><strong>Author's note<strong>

**SOOOOOOOO sorry this took me so long to post this!**

**Here's my lame excuse: I immediately jumped aboard the fan-wagon of the Big Four that consists of Jack Frost, Merida, Rapunzel, and Hiccup, it just sounds awesome! But so little of the pairing supporters consist of Hiccunzel…I began losing faith and inspiration in my story…But the more followers and favorites I got for this story, the happier I started feeling.**

**I told myself "Raychel, these lovely people love your story and you shouldn't let them down, so get off your lazy butt and type! And also for the people of the Big Four who can't see or never thought of Hiccunzel as a couple, make them see why this couple is your OTP and why they are so great together through your writing!"**

**So after that lovely conversation with myself (swear I'm only slightly crazy), I got out the laptop and began typing!**

**So in a nutshell, THANK YOU GUYS FOR LIKING MY STORY!**

**Now for this chapter, I wanted to focus on Gothel because she is a main antagonist and has so much potential to her character. Following the fairy tale version of Gothel, I decided to make her a witch, can create more action to the story and I love magic!**

**And the Stabbington Brothers names were inspired by the Harpe Brothers who were known for being murders, highwaymen, and river pirates that were full of blood lust and came from Scottish parents…thought it fit!**

**Till next time!**


	6. Chapter 6

A couple days had passed since Hiccup had talked to Camicazi. Since then his mind had been on continual rotation, mulling over the possibilities of what the Romans so bold enough to go and head straight for the grand kingdoms.

He had tangled with the Romans on a couple of occasions back in the day, even more so when Alvin the Treacherous had decided to join their side. Back when the whole wide world seemed more infinite and the thirst for acceptance was something that didn't bother Hiccup. To be quite honest his trial and errors didn't seem of a big deal to him, just a new challenge for him to face.

But after he had lost Fishlegs, one of his best friends, that's when it became more than a challenge, it became an obsession. Hiccup realized that even with the past glories under his belt and the places he had traveled, it still wouldn't be enough until he became more than just a member, he had to become the hero and role model position he was meant to fill as future heir of the Hairy Hooligans.

Right now though, Hiccup wandered through the dense forest that was now receding to open up to a great cliff top. He stopped abruptly and awkwardly adjusted his knapsack. Why the Hel was he doing this again?

Hiccup then walked stiffly past the mounds and rune stones of Black Heart Bay located on the East side of the Island. The name suited this place well as it was the ceremonial place where funeral traditions took place for all members of the Hairy Hooligan Tribe.

Hiccup's mother included.

Well, that wasn't entirely true. It wasn't official of whether or not his mother was actually dead, but she might had well have been to him. He didn't even have a clear image of her anymore. The memory of his mother's funeral was still clear in his mind though. Her bodiless Pyre blazing in glory against the setting sun as if she was the center of the whole universe, just as she had always been.

At least that's what Hiccup think she had been like.

This was an on and off fear that had been plaguing Hiccup since the 10 year anniversary of his mom's disappearance. Everyone had praised the late Chieftess Valhallarama

as if she were dead, remembering of her heroic quests and exquisite fighting skills, but Hiccup could only remember snippets of her. None of them though of her being a mother or of being a real family when she was home.

Actually when Hiccup was young—_really young—_he honestly believed he had one mommy and two daddies. He knew "mothers" and "fathers" were adults who raised children. He didn't understand that traditional Viking households were meant to have only one of each until it was explained to him.

He only knew the constant presence of two men fumbling with parenthood and the faded memory of a woman.

The salty air rustled Hiccup's auburn hair; he took a deep breath of the fresh air and let out a great sigh. He was here; he might as well get this over with.

"Hey mom, it's been awhile" Hiccup sighed out as plopped down onto the grass, with is legs hanging over the side of the cliff, "Nothing major has changed since the last time I've talked to you, still lots of new buildings, food is becoming scarce, dragons still attacking" The Viking teen groaned out.

"I've grown a few inches, so now I'm becoming a tall fishbone, instead of a scrawny pipsqueak" Hiccup forced a laugh at his own joke. "It's a shame that you'll be missing out on me in dragon training, I still got another month until it starts."

Hiccup scoffed as he dug through his knapsack, "Honestly though, would you really have been here even if you were still alive?" Hiccup said with a chuckle as he pulled out and began tinkering more with the crossbow some more. Even if his mother's ghost was watching over him, he wouldn't have minded that he wasn't now fully paying attention to her, "You probably wouldn't have, not until the final exam at least…if I made it that far"

"At least you left me with Grandma Wrinkly" Hiccup said as he rolled his eyes. "Though he recently keeps babbling on about a golden flower and me riding the winds" Hiccup said, making the same grand gesture that Wrinkly had made, when he recited his predictions. "I tried to brush it off, but that's when that voice started appearing"

"She's started saying actually words over the past couple days" Hiccup squeezed his hands together that rested in his lap, "Like I won't let anything bad happen to you…It's going to be all right…and most of all I'm sorry mother. So you can thank her that she reminded me that I did have a mother once"

"I wish I could figure out who she is though" Hiccup said slightly annoyed, he hated not knowing. "I've been listening to every woman's voice in the village and none of them sound like her"

Just to prove it to himself, Hiccup lowered himself until he was on his back. He closed his eyes and focused his mind, drowning out any other noise that could be around him. He then felt it, that prick of a shocking current running through his body, he was in.

"I wonder if you're having a better time than me" Hiccup said, "Where ever you may be at"

_I'm happy you're here though_

"I guess this is the great skill of Hiccup the useless" Hiccup said with disgust emphasized on the title.

_How about we give you a different name_

"You sure are sweet on me" Hiccup said, "Unless I can kill a dragon, I'm never going to get a different name"

_You can't know that for sure_

"If you are a just a voice in my head as an indication of a downward spiral, I'm glad you're positive for the both of us" Hiccup smiled, "I guess it's going be you and me against the world isn't it?"

_I promise_

* * *

><p>A meadow, Rapunzel was sitting in the middle of grassy meadow with the clear blue sky rolling for miles over her head. There was the no sign of any other living creature, just some tall grass that was moving slightly in the wind, as it stretched into the horizon.<p>

Rapunzel then felt the presence of someone behind her and whipped her head over her shoulder to see a pale, freckled hand holding a bouquet of flowers in front of her face. The scent of flowers wafted into her nostrils as she identified the flowers in the hand from the small pots and hanging pots back in her tower. Violets, primroses, and snowy little bells were arranged beautifully and made her smile.

Her eyes shifted upward and automatically made contact with a pair of forest green colored eyes. Ones that looked calculating, as if they were always analyzing and figuring out the world around them.

Excitement filled Rapunzel as her eyes shifted to her visitor's pupils. In them she saw a sun setting against a vast ocean, one much calmer and brighter than the one she had seen.

She felt her smile stretch at the sight of something knew in this person's eyes. Normally all she had seen was fire and hot coal, the person always seemed to be around them for some reason. That and their hands, they were always constantly moving, assembling bits of metal and wood to create things. She was never around long enough to see what they would create, but she always had the best time when she would randomly slip into this person's eyes and just watch.

Rapunzel leaned foreword in anticipation to get a better look of the view. But her visitor suddenly closed his eyes, causing her to be pushed out of her dream and to abruptly wake her back into reality. Back onto the roman ship.

It had been like this for the past couple of days, just before Rapunzel would wake up, she would see those green eyes. Actually no, it had been longer that, it just had never been this frequent before. It would be exactly 6 months and 5 days that this dream started happening.

It was easy to keep track of small things like that when it felt like you had all the time in the world.

It was those eyes too that had given her such a taste of the outside world that they where her sole motivator for truly convincing her to go outside and not to waste anymore time. Now look where she was.

A squeak pulled Rapunzel's eyes away from her eyes to see Pascal looking at his companion with his big, red worried eyes.

"I'm fine Pascal" Rapunzel sniffled as she scooped up her reptilian friend and nuzzled her nose against his scaly head, "I'm happy you're here though"

The Roman guard that was fast asleep by the stairs grunted, causing Rapunzel to jump and stuff Pascal into her mountain of hair. She had blessed her lucky stars that Pascal had been able to crawl aboard the ship before they had set sail, leaving a burning kingdom behind them, so she wasn't about to lose him again.

"Sissy?" Rapunzel turned to see Dirt sleepily rub her eyes as she rose out of the bed she had made from Rapunzel's hair, "Are you o-ta?"

Rapunzel smiled at the sound of her nickname that the two of them had come up with since Rapunzel was too hard to pronounce for the little girl. She opened up her arms invitingly, and Dirt responded by crawling into the blonde's lap and wrapping her arms around Rapuzel's neck.

A sigh of relief escaped Rapunzel as Dirt's cool little fingers soothed the slightly throbbing small blue 'S' tattoo that was on the back of her neck. Every one of them had received this tattoo after about a day's travel, all of them located in the same place as well.

The warmth of another human helped against the cod morning as well. Rapunzel's cloak and clothes had been taken away; actually everyone that had been captured shared the same fate, leaving everyone in their undergarments. When a brave man protested about them freezing to death, the hairless man, who preferred to go by the title Alvin the Treacherous, just smiled maliciously and said that they only needed strong survivors, and the weak wouldn't be pitied at all. It was the only reason Rapunzel still had her long hair as well, even with all the surprised looks she had gotten, as Alvin stated that he would at least give them a fair chance out of generosity by using whatever they had to survive.

Rapunzel then gently ran her fingers through Dirt's hair trying to get all the tangles out and to smooth the hair out of her face, just like her mother had. "There" Rapunzel said, smiling at her handy work, "Now everyone can see your pretty face"

"Tank you" The girl smiled as she stuck her thumb in her mouth, "even dough I'm weally dirty like my name"

"How about we give you a different name though" Rapunzel said, "You don't look much like a dirt to me anyways"

"Ta older kids told me dat I did have a name, but it was lost when they took me into ta gang"

"Well, what do you want to be called?"

"Hmmmm" Dirt said as she puffed out her cheeks, "Oh! Me and ta big kids would sleep at ta church, and there was always dis weally BIIIG rock Angel dat I would sleep unter to keep me safe"

Rapunzel smiled, "Ok, then your name shall be Angel"

Angel smiled happily at the sound of her new name, any words of excitement she may have had were drowned out by a large yawn that over took her, "We are always going to be togeter, wight?"

"We will" Rapunzel placed a light kiss to the girl's forehead as she wrapped her back up tightly into her hair to shield her from the cold morning and Angel instantly fell back asleep. "I promise"

"I don't know who is crueler?" A man that was only a few feet away from her said, "You or the Romans"

"H-how am I being cruel?" Rapunzel asked offended

The man pointed to Angel, "Filling that child's head with false hope, it's only going to make her demise that more painful"

"You can't know that for sure" Rapunzel insisted

"Where I came from, hope was all I could have" Rapunzel said as he placed her hands on her chest, "This isn't my end, it's just a detour" The blonde then looked back to the man and said, "Nothing is going to stand between me and my dream, you can count on it"

The man replied with pity, "You know, being too optimistic is going to get you into trouble one of these days"

"Then I feel sorry for you" Rapunzel said, "I wish you could realize how good of a life you really had, and would fight to keep that life still"

The man simply rolled his eyes as her and turned so that his back faced her. Rapunzel pursued her lips but said nothing. She knew when she was being completely ignored; her mother did it all the time.

Rapunzel then peered out her small hole to get a glimpse of the grey ocean as they flew just above it. That's right, flew over it. None of the captives could understand how that was possible, but once Diadema had been out of sight, the boat had somehow been lifted from that water and up into the sky, where it had stayed for the past three days of traveling. The only clue the prisoners could go off of was the occasional sound of flapping of wings and shadows of large creatures that would sometimes stretched of the ocean's surface.

Suddenly loud footsteps thumped down the steps.

"Wake up you lousy pact food!" A guard yelled with a slight struggle in saying it in a language foreign to him as he was flanked by more guards and Alvin himself. Everyone immediately obeyed the order as they weakly rose to their feet and stood in a line, a man had already been thrown over board without hesitation for not following orders.

"Good news everyone" Alvin said as he walked down the line, his head held high, "We'll be reaching our destination very soon and there you will be helping supply to a great cause"

"However…" Alvin said as he stopped at the end of the line where Rapunzel stood, Angel gripped Rapunzel's petticoat tighter, "We are going to have to give you all a hair cut"

Rapunzel felt her stomach drop as she started to back away slowly. She didn't get far though as Alvin lashed out, pulled Angel away from Rapunzel with his good arm and pressed his hook arm to Rapunzel's throat.

The whole world seemed to stop as Rapunzel couldn't even think about what she should do, not even she could feel Pascal slapping at her neck. She only knew that she had to protect her hair for the sake of her mother. What kind of daughter would she be if she couldn't take of her mother? And where would she be if she didn't have her mother!? Her mother was her whole life!

A massive roar then pierced the tense air as the boat was dropped out of the air and smashed into the water, knocking everyone off their feet and hitting the ground with hard thuds.

"What in Thor's name was that!?" Alvin screamed, quickly regaining his composure.

His question was quickly answered as a giant, scaly clawed foot broke through the ceiling of the lower deck, causing everyone to scramble in fear and up the stairs to the upper deck. Rapunzel wasted no time in picking up Angel in one of her arms and her hair in another and ran for the stairs.

When Rapunzel got to the top deck though, it was pure and utter chaos. A full aerial battle was going on between what looked like giant fire-breathing lizards.

"Dragons!?" One of the prisoners yelled from the small cluster Rapunzel stuck to, "You have got to be fucking joking me!"

"Look!" An older woman yelled as she pointed out to the sea, "Other ships are coming this way from that island!"

"Are you crazy!?" Someone from the crowd protested, "Do you know who those ships or that island belong to!?"

"I would rather be held captive by them on land, than die here!" The older woman shouted as she immediately jumped over the side of the boat and into the water.

Another fiery blast from a thick, round brown dragon convinced several more people to follow this woman's suit into the water.

Rapunzel followed the crowds lead and stood on the railing of the ship with Angel clutched in her arms. Working up enough courage, Rapunzel jumped off the rail. But she didn't make it far before a giant tail swung out and knocked into her, separating her from Angel as she fell into the water and Rapunzel and Pascal back onto the dock.

Before Rapunzel could even fully recover from the surprise attack, three giant claws were slammed down onto the dock, trapping Rapunzel inside the clawed cage.

The blonde looked up into the purple eyes of a very fierce red dragon. It opened its massive jaws to reveal it's saliva-dripping fangs; Rapunzel was too petrified to even scream.

All of a sudden a green two-headed lizard tackled the red one, causing them to roll away from the blonde. Rapunzel quickly gathered her hair and crawled away from the battle and to the rail that was on the opposite side of the one she had tried before as there was no way she could get to the other side without being trampled on by the dragons.

A blood-curtailing scream filled the air as Rapunzel turned to see the two-headed dragon simultaneously rip out the jugular of the red dragon. The blonde threw up in her mouth a little at the sight of the blood spilling onto the deck. Her knees became instantly so weak at the sight, that Rapunzel didn't have time to react before she lost her footing on the rail and fell feet first into the ocean.

But she was no match for the angry sea as it limply threw her around in its tight grip. Out of pure instinct Rapunzel rotated her arms in large circles, this allowed her to more than less keep her head above the water so that Pascal could at least stay out of the water as well; though she was still taking in big gulps of sea water.

There was a sudden tug at her long blonde hair, and Rapunzel looked to see that her hair had gotten caught on a cluster of large rocks. Pulling herself hand over hand along her hair, she got herself to the rocks.

The rocks created a slight shield for Rapunzel against the large waves that were trying to topple her. Though she could already her limbs begin to freeze and shake from the temperature and she knew she would soon lose her grip and be thrown back into the water.

"Help me…" Rapunzel whispered as she closed her eyes to see the forest green ones instantly appear in her mind, oh how she still wanted to meet the owner of those inviting eyes, to be the ones to come to her rescue.

"Please help me…"

* * *

><p><strong>Holy crap am I so behind and lazy in typing. I got four excuses for you this time.<strong>

**1)At the beginning of the summer, my laptop started acting up where I would push 'f' and on my laptop it would come up as 'gfv' for a majority of my keyboard**

**2)Then there was also the fact I had just graduated high school and spent the summer looking for a job…it took me so long to find one. Now I'm the only white girl at my job! :D**

**3)Then not to mention I started to college and have to focus on university transfers**

**4)I read over what I had as an idea for this story…and hated a majority of what I had. It was completely unoriginal, major OOC, and I had one-dimensional OC's and canon characters as well. So I scrapped most of the story, spent a lot of time in the college library researching Viking and medieval culture (as I am going to defile Tangled canon by pulling that timeline back to about 1100-1200 ad instead of 1700-1800s) and Rapunzel character analysis and tumblr HTTYD character analysis as well. So I hope that I can get a new laptop and be better about uploading my chapters**

**Also the flowers in Rapunzel's dream have meanings to them:**

**primrose: The dreaming will find luck in a new friendship.**

**snowy little bell: The dreaming must learn, to trust and not to hide his problems.**

**violet: The dreaming will bind himself to a person who is younger than he himself**

**And I wouldn't mind having a beta reader for this story, if your interested just leave me a message as that would help with missing words or awkward sentences or confusion on anything and I will appreciate it greatly!**

**(PS)I have gone back and made Hiccup, 15 as that is his canon age**

**Enjoy guys!**


	7. Chapter 7

Hiccup could hear them—voices, barely above whisper.

*Romans . . . Romans . . . Romans . . . *

He opened his eyes to confront the visitors that were bothering his peace and quiet, and that's when he saw the Nanodragons.

Swarms of the small dragons, no bigger than dragonflies, fluttered around Hiccup without paying him any attention. They were all chattering away at each other in Dragonese. Hiccup remained quiet and tried to pick out as much as he could, listening specifically for anything about the Romans.

*Some of our brothers attacked the lost ones and Romans—*

*—Roman ship went down—*

*The Long Beach is covered in wreckage from the Roman ship*

Hiccup wasted no time in grabbing his crossbow, which he had optimistically named the heart piercer, and immediately headed down the memorized path to Long Beach. After what felt like forever, he broke through the forest. He stopped immediately in his tracks at the battle before him.

Dragon was fighting against dragon in a vicious display of firepower, claws, and speed. It struck Hiccup as sort of strange. One advantage the dragons had during raids was what seemed to be a healthy respect for one another. They rarely fought with each other, even when Hiccup had observed them outside of raids.

He would be lying, though, if he said his heart wasn't racing because of the golden opportunity before him. Here he was with a new and improved crossbow and a horde of distracted dragons—all he needed was one heart to prove himself.

Digging into his vest, he pulled out a spyglass to better see what dragons there were. He could see them all: Nadders, Gronkles, Zipplebacks, Monstrous Nightmares—each of them promising him a better future. Sadly, there wasn't a Night Fury in sight. The unholy of lightening and death itself would have been the ultimate prize. Hiccup would have to settle with a practice target today—

Help me

Hiccup nearly jumped out his skin as the mysterious girl's voice rang in his ears.

Help me, please

A small part of ocean then began to glow like a blazing sun. Hiccup immediately turned his spyglass to the glow as the girl's voice began singing an incantation that he now knew all too well.

Flower gleam and glow…let your power shine…make the clock reverse…bring back what once was mine…change the fates design…once was mine

The girl's voice was louder than it had ever been before as he tried to focus on what was causing the glow.

In the middle of the glowing water, he could see a girl clinging to the rocks.

The crossbow fell out of Hiccup's hand. He double-checked through the spyglass to make sure his eyes weren't betraying him. Sure enough, a girl was clutching at a rock cluster for her life. As he watched, a wave crashed over her and she was pulled under the water.

"NO!" Hiccup exclaimed. He dropped the spyglass, took a few steps back, and, with a running start, jumped off the cliff and dove into the icy sea.

The icy water felt like a thousand knives stabbing into his skin. Hiccup surfaced and took a deep breath of air.

'Don't worry,' Hiccup thought as he took a giant gulp of air and dove back under the water. 'I can save you, I promise.'

The possibility that he could be swimming into some sort of trap did cross his mind as he pumped his arms and legs as hard as he could, propelling himself towards the glow. Trap or not, though, he couldn't leave her. He had to save her; he knew that if he didn't, she would die.

Once Hiccup got close enough to the girl that the golden light was almost blinding, he resurfaced. By the time he went to dive again, though, the light was gone and the ocean was once again stormy gray.

The glowing water was momentarily forgotten as Hiccup heard a squeak and turned to see the girl sprawled limply on some rocks a small distance away with a small, green, wingless dragon sitting on her head and . . . waving at him?

Hiccup swam over and heaved the girl further up out of the water.

"Hey!" Hiccup shouted as he shook her shoulders. "Hey!" Her head just lolled to the side. She was out cold.

Hiccup let her rest against the rocks again so he could get ready to tow her to the shore. The girl began to slip, though, and Hiccup scrambled to grab her. He managed to catch her before she submerged again, but hissed as his felt his palm get sliced by the sharp rock.

Hiccup ignored the pain as he began swimming back to the shore with all is might, struggling to keep the unconscious girl's head above the water. Ran* sure wasn't making this easy for him.

Once his feet could brush the sandy bottom, he pushed forwards even faster. Hiccup picked up the girl in his arms when he was able to steady himself against the waves. His legs burned as he pulled them out of the freezing ocean, and he felt as if something was dragging behind them.

The girl nearly fell from his arms when he realized that the thing dragging behind them was her hair. The damp blonde hair snaked onto the ground and into the water; he couldn't even see where it ended. The wingless green dragon then began squeaking him fiercely from the girl's shoulder. He was a bit surprised he couldn't understand what it was saying.

"Well, tell your friend that this new fashion trend of hers," Hiccup said as he dug his feet into the sand to pull the added weight of her hair with them, "is sure as Hel an inconvenient one."

The blonde's body was burning up in his arms, which didn't make a lot of sense, considering that the water they had just been in was cold enough to kill someone in just over fifteen minutes. If he could just find a good sheltered spot and make sure she wasn't injured . . .

Hiccup spied a cave tucked into the cliff face and trudged towards it. The cave was adequately large and had a smooth floor that Hiccup laid the girl down on. He could hear her heart racing when he pressed an ear to her chest; he hadn't lost her yet. She wasn't breathing, though, and her skin was still burning.

Swallowing down his slight embarrassment, Hiccup plugged the girl's nose and placed his mouth on hers. Their lips only touched for a moment before Hiccup felt his skin heat up as if he was baking in the sun. His surprise caused him to jolt away from the girl. She started violently coughing up mouthfuls of water—at least she was breathing again. Hiccup brought a hand to his lips and felt that they were blistered from the unexpected heat.

"What are you?" Hiccup asked, staring at her with awe. His wonder turned to concern as her color drained away and she began to shiver uncontrollably. Tentatively, he reached out to check her pulse. It was weak and fluttering, and her skin felt like ice.

Hiccup urgently searched through his pockets to find his fire-making kit that would have both the flint and tinder he needed to get a fire going to warm her up. He groaned with the realization that he had left his kit in his knapsack back at Black Heart Bay. Hiccup cursed in frustration—of all the times to leave it behind!

The Viking glanced back to see the girl's lips were now turning a slightly blue-ish color. He quickly took off his vest and wrapped it around the girl in an effort to help her warm up. It looked like it helped a little, but it was still wet and cold. If he didn't think of an idea soon, they would both succumb to hypothermia. What Hiccup wouldn't give for a little dragon firepower now . . .

*Humans think they are so great,* said a small voice, *and yet they can't even stand a little bit of cold. Pathetic, that's what it is.*

Hiccup couldn't help but smile. He never thought he would be happy to hear that voice again. He looked up to see exactly what he had predicted—Nanodragons covered the top of the cave, and right where he had heard the voice coming from was none other than the "mighty" Nanodragon god himself, Ziggerastica.

Taking a deep breath, Hiccup tried to recall as much Dragonese as he could remember from his years of studying and practice; he did not want to screw this up.

*Hey, Ziggerastica. Long time no see,* Hiccup said confidently. All chatter ceased immediately and Hiccup could feel every tiny eye turn on him.

*You dare speak to me, human!?* Ziggerastica exclaimed as he flew down and got right up in Hiccup's face. *You are in the presence of the great god Ziggerastica! You will show the proper respect or suffer the consequences!*

*I know who you are,* Hiccup continued—it was too late to turn back now. *We met in Rome after I saved you from the Fat Consul.*

There was a pause as the small dragon squinted at him. *Ah, yes, I think I can vaguely recall you, small Viking,* Ziggerastica said eventually. *You were with that insufferable midget and the rambling butterball.*

*I need your help,* Hiccup said, ignoring the slight to his friends. The Dragonese was scratching his throat from underuse. *This girl is going to die if she doesn't get warm soon, and I don't have a way to warm her up.*

*And what right have you to ask for the help of a god when I have already paid back my favor to you?*

*Because this isn't about me, it's about her!* Hiccup said urgently, gesturing to the shivering girl.

*You would put aside your Viking pride to help someone even at the mercy of a powerful dragon such as myself. Why?*

*Because it's what's right!* Hiccup exclaimed impatiently. There wasn't any time to waste.

The Nanodragon god turned his head to look at Hiccup straight in the eye, as if he was searching for something. *Very well, small Viking. We mighty Nanodragons will help you save this girl out the goodness of my heart.* Hiccup could've rolled his eyes, but he didn't dare upset the dragon now. *In return, I will come to you someday with a favor of my own, and you will have to agree to perform my request.*

Hiccup was trying hard to keep his mouth shut about how the only reason he had saved this small dragon back in Rome had been out of pity and for sharing a common enemy. But, like he had told Ziggerastica, this wasn't about him. Besides, what was the worst the Nanodragon could ask for?

*Done,* he said firmly.

*Alright, human,* Ziggerastica said as he motioned to his brethren, *create a circle of rocks around you and that wet female.* Hiccup pulled the blonde into sitting position and did as he was told.

*Now, don't get in the way.* The Nanodragons had formed a ring around him and the girl, and they began simultaneously breathing fire onto the rocks. Hiccup shifted the girl so she was leaning against him as the temperature around the two of them began to rise.

The small green dragon on the girl's shoulder squeaked in protest as Hiccup shifted to wrap his arms tighter around the girl to share their body heat.

"Hey, I'm just trying to help here," Hiccup told the lizard defensively. "My hands aren't wandering, don't worry."

After a few minutes, Hiccup could feel that both he and blonde were now dry. *Thank you,* he said to the dragons. Ziggerastica simply nodded.

*My lord,* another Nanodragon said in a terrified tone as he scurried up to Ziggerastica, *the lost ones are getting called back to the Red Death.*

Hiccup watched as Ziggerastica's body tensed. *Then we must head back to our hive before we get pulled in like they are,* he said quickly. Was that . . . fear he heard in the dragon's voice?

*Wait!* Hiccup called out to him. *What do you mean by the Red Death? And who are the lost ones?*

*This is nothing that concerns you!* Ziggerastica shrieked at him. *You barbaric humans never care for the hardships of dragons. Return to your meaningless life and await my request!* The Nanodragons swarmed out of the cave before Hiccup could protest further.

A million different questions ran through Hiccup's head. So many strange things had happened in such a short period of time. He had never seen dragons fight against each other, nor acted so scared. Was the Red Death a predator? A disease? Sure, Nanodragons probably weren't the highest on the dragon food chain, but Ziggerastica hadn't been scared even as he dangled before the Fat Consul's mouth, about to be eaten alive. Something definitely wasn't right.

The green lizard squeaked and nudged the girl's face with his head lightly, worry filling his eyes as he looked up at Hiccup.

"She'll be fine," he said to the lizard before sighing wearily. "And you can't even talk back to me…great."

The girl's body was a much more normal temperature now, and Hiccup let out a sigh of relief. She stirred in his arms and her lips ran over his collarbone unexpectedly, causing him to flush. Groaning slightly, she lifted her face up to meet Hiccup's. Even with her eyelids only cracked open a sliver, he could see that her eyes were bright green. She cocked her head at him in confusion and licked her lips lightly. Hiccup smiled at her nervously. He didn't really know what to expect; maybe an inquiry about the daring nature of her rescue, or even a heartfelt display of gratitude for his brave deed.

Instead, she slurred out, "You taste salty." Then her head fell against his shoulder and she passed out again.

"Of course," Hiccup exhaled with a small a laugh. Well, he would still send a prayer to Eir** that she would get better.

Soft giggles filled the cave. Hiccup looked up to see a few straggling Nanodragons that were hanging around and laughing at him.

*Beat it!* Hiccup barked at the dragons, feeling his face heat up in embarrassment. Now he was going to have those little imps gossiping about how a human had 'begged' for their help and how he didn't even get thanked by the pretty girl he had saved.

The girl let out a sigh as she snuggled closer to him, and he allowed himself to feel a bit of pride at his successful rescue of this strange girl. He leaned back against the cave wall with an arm still around the girl, much to the annoyance of her small green companion, and took a few minutes to stop wondering about the many questions he now had to enjoy the situation he was in. After all, who knew when he would have a girl in his arms like this again?

* * *

><p><strong> Author's Note<strong>

**Alright, hear you guys are, the kind of first meeting of Hiccup and Rapunzel! I was really surprise how fast I was able to get this chapter out, but I don't think you guys have any complaints about that.**

**Some background info on Ziggerastica: For those of you who don't or have never read any of the How to train your dragon books, Ziggerastica is a tiny nanodragon who thinks of himself as a god. Hiccup, Camicazi, and Fishlegs all met him in the third book "How to Speak Dragonese." he was rescued by Hiccup from being eaten by the Fat Consul. In return, he and several others of his kind helped Hiccup trick the Romans into believing he was the god Thor.**

**Also:**

***Ran: Norse goddess of sea and storms**

****Eir: Norse goddess of healing**

**And that fire making kit that Hiccup was talking about was something I had found on Viking Answer Lady, so thanks to her. **

**Thank you to** my beta reader sunshine!

Enjoy guys!


	8. Chapter 8

The scents of earth and smoke filled Rapunzel's nose as she nuzzled deeper into the softness cushioning her head. The light, heat, and soft crackling of a small fire gently woke her and she opened her eyes to the inside of a cave.

Pushing herself into sitting position, Rapunzel realized that she had no idea where she was. She immediately felt around her for something to protect herself with.

Something hard poked her palm of her hand and she looked down to see a brooch that was in the shape of the Diadema looked around it and saw that it was just one thing in a pile of odd treasures. There was a compass that matched the description of one that a man had complained about losing back on the boat, and also a ring another man had talked about giving to his sweetheart.

There was also a frying pan—her frying pan! Rapunzel laughed as she picked up the kitchen utensil, just knowing that it had to be the frying pan that had been in her basket. How did it get here? And how did she get here?

Rapunzel pushed a hand to her temple and tried to shake the haze around what had happened last night.

She could remember the ocean pushing and pulling her down into the cold, dark murkiness, her strength completely draining away. She was scared and tired, and it took nearly all she had to cling to the rock that the ocean threw her against. So Rapunzel did the one thing she was good at; she closed her eyes tight and began to sing for her magic hair.

Rapunzel sang the incantation from her childhood, and kept singing it, over and over again as she held on for her life. She didn't know how long she sang, in the cold, merciless ocean, but it was the certainly the longest she had ever sang in her entire life.

Just when it seemed that she could sing no longer, that there was nothing more but to let the waves win the fight, she felt something stirring deep inside her chest, as if energy was bursting from her very soul.

The energy grew, became white-hot, rushed through her veins, roared so loud in her ears that she could hear nothing else. It made Rapunzel feel stronger than she had ever felt before, and it made her dizzy and warm. The power that she was feeling was familiar, too, as if it had always been inside of her, desperate to come out. She craved it desperately, wanting more and more of it.

Clawing higher and higher onto the rock, Rapunzel felt like she could do anything as she felt it tingle through her fingertips.

It must have taken a lot out of her, though, because when the energy vanished quicker than it had come, it left her weak and even more tired than before. That's when everything had faded to black.

**"Are you okay, Rapunzel?"** A familiar voice called out to the blonde, pulling her out of her memories.

"I'm fine, Pascal," Rapunzel said, smiling as she looked down to see her old friend looking concerned for her. "I feel so much better now that I can hear your voice again."

**"I do, too,"** Pascal said as he patted her hands, **"I just didn't want you to have another incident like you did with your mother in front of all those strangers."**

"Yeah," Rapunzel said with a sad tone, "I don't know she got mad at me talking to that bird. I thought all animals could talk. I'm just glad she didn't . . . How did we end up here?" she asked, looking around.

"**A boy saved you last night."**

"A boy! Did he do anything to my hair? Is he alone? Did he have pointy teeth?!"

**"He didn't do anything to your hair, yes, he is alone, and his teeth were kind of pointed," **Pascal immediately replied to his nervous companion. **"Though I didn't like the way he was holding you."**

"Well, is there anything . . . nice about him?"

Pascal sighed in annoyance. **"He did save your life and give you his vest to keep you warm."** Rapunzel looked down and realized that she was, in fact, wearing a brown fur vest that smelled of earth and smoke.

_"Hei du våken ennå?" _a voice called from right outside the cave.

"Someone's coming!" Rapunzel screamed as she skittered away from the mouth of the cave on her hands and knees, "and I think they're coming this way!"

**"Rapunzel, this isn't the time to panic—!" **Pascal exclaimed.

"You're right," Rapunzel said, now slightly calmer, "I've got to capture them before they get me."

What did she have? Her frying pan and her hair! Of course, no one knew her hair better than she did. Looking around, Rapunzel saw a rock ledge right above the mouth of the cave, and was able to throw her hair over the ledge and tie a large loop at the end of her hair. Satisfied with her work, Rapunzel slunk farther back into the cave, hid behind a rock column, and waited.

The stranger exclaimed as he stepped right into her trap and was yanked up by her hair, now wrapped tightly around his ankle. More small treasures that probably came from boat fell from the guy's arms as he dangled.

_"Hva Hel!? Er det deg blondie? Jeg vil fortelle deg at jeg er bevæpnet!"_

"Rapunzel!" Pascal exclaimed, **"That's the boy who saved you!"**

She looked at her companion and raised an eyebrow. "He is?"

**"Unfortunately, yes,"** he replied, sticking his tongue out in the general direction of the now-trapped young man.

"Well . . . " Rapunzel peered from behind her hiding spot to see the flailing guy and bit her lip. "You're sure he's not dangerous?"

**"So far not."**

_"Ikke bekymre deg, jeg fikk denne."_

"I don't know what he's saying," Rapunzel said, frustrated, "How am I going to talk to him?"

**"He said, 'Don't worry, I got this.'"**

"You understood him?" Rapunzel asked, completely amazed. "How?"

**"Well . . . "** Pascal began as he looked away from Rapunzel. He never did that.** "You see—Rapunzel look!"**

The guy then said as he pulled out a dagger and curled up his body to poise the knife against the hair

Rapunzel made an unnatural sounding screech as she threw the frying pan at the guy, hitting him square in the head.

_"Hvorfor vil du gjøre det?!"_

"What did he say?!" Still shaken about what this guy had tried to do, any good thoughts she may have had about him were quickly dwindling.

**"He said, 'Why would you do that?'" **Pascal translated quickly.

'Okay,' Rapunzel thought as she took a deep breath. 'Here goes nothing.'

"Struggling—struggling is pointless," Rapunzel said in the bravest voice she could muster as she kept herself hidden behind her rock column.

The guy stopped squirming and started looking around, "Huh?"

"I appreciate you saving my life," Rapunzel stated as she stepped out from her hiding spot and made sure he could see her, her legs wobbling, "b-but I still can't trust you just yet."

"Oh, so your from the sør. I guess Grandpa Wrinkly was right," the guy said calmly even though he was still hanging upside down. "Then again, you've barely said three words to me."

"I don't know what you're doing here—"

"Oh, you know," he said in a snarky tone, "Just hanging around."

"—but I'm letting you know right this second, you cannot have my hair!"

"_Håret ditt_ . . . your hair?" the guy said, completely confused. "Why in Thor's name would I want your hair?"

"Wait," Rapunzel said, now the one who was confused. "You . . . don't want my hair?"

"I'm perfectly fine with my own hair, thanks. I don't need yours," the guy said as he crossed his arms, as if he was now just annoyed with her.

"You don't want my hair . . . " Rapunzel trailed off. This didn't make any sense. Her mother had told her that the story of her hair was one known to the farthest reaches of the Earth, and here was yet another person that didn't know the truth about her.

She stuck her pan out in front of the guy's face threateningly. "And you're telling the truth?"

"It won't do me any good to lie."

Pascal scampered down Rapunzel's shoulder, to the edge of the frying pan, and got right in the guy's face. After a few seconds, Pascal motioned to be brought back to her.

"**Well . . .** " Pascal began, **"he looks like he's telling the truth."**

"I think he might be too," Rapunzel agreed, "And I think he's going to be our only way right now to make everything right again."

"**Possibly . . . "**

"_Se_," the guy interrupted, "why don't you let me down?"

"Not until you answer my questions," Rapunzel said, turning back to the guy and pointing her pan back at him. "Where am I? Who are you? What are you going to do to my hair? And—and—" Rapunzel sneezed, causing a huge snot bubble to come out her nose and her grip on her hair to loosen.

She recovered and quickly grabbed her hair, stopping the guy about a foot off the ground.

"Oh Great Odin's ghost, can we please not do that again . . . _vennligst_!" the guy exclaimed as he stretched out his arms and placed his hands on the ground to stop him from swaying, "I like to have my skull in one piece!"

Rapunzel groaned as she leaned her forehead against her clamped hands. This was not working out at all. She needed a new plan. Slowly, so her rescuer didn't hit his head, she let out enough hair so that he was firmly on the ground.

Something came in Rapunzel's vision. She looked to see the guy offering a cloth to her, her hair no longer twisted around his ankle.

"Thank you," Rapunzel said without meeting the guy's eyes as she took the cloth from him to wipe her snotty nose.

"Yeah, no problem," the guy said. "I'm Hiccup, by the way."

"Rapunzel," the blonde said. She took a deep breath and looked into her rescuer's face despite her embarrassment. And when she looked into his eyes, she realized that they were familiar.

She immediately leaned forward to get a closer look, to make sure she wasn't wrong. Rapunzel couldn't believe it. She had called for him, and he had been the one to come and save her!

"Your . . . your eyes," Rapunzel said in complete astonishment. She reached out to place her fingertips under his eyes. There was no doubt in her mind that these were the ones.

Rapunzel felt the skin under her fingertips get warm and Hiccup looked anywhere but her face. "Um, I sort of have this thing about personal space—"

"I've seen you in my dreams!" Rapunzel suddenly exclaimed in delight

Hiccup shook his head in confusion as he turned back to her. "Wait, hva?"

"You're the one I've been dreaming about for months now!" Rapunzel said with a wide grin on her face. "Have you been dreaming about me, too?"

"No . . . " Hiccup said awkwardly, "I've never seen you before in my life."

"Oh," Rapunzel said, straightening again. Disappointed, she turned to see Pascal patting her shoulder sympathetically. "I'm fine, I promise," she told him softly.

"Wait . . . it's just," Hiccup said, eyebrows scrunched together, "and this is going to sound crazy, but I . . . I think I've been hearing your voice."

"Really? What do you think that means?"

"I really don't know," Hiccup replied, "Let's just keep this between us for now until we figure it out, okay?"

"Okay," Rapunzel said as she wiped her nose again.

"Let's get you back over to the fire," Hiccup said as he slowly raised his arms to hers as if she was some kind of wild animal. When she didn't throw another pan at him, Hiccup scooped her up in his arms. "You feel lighter than you did before."

"How rude," Rapunzel huffed as she crossed her arms.

"That's not what I meant," Hiccup said defensively. "I just meant your crazy hair doesn't weight ten tons anymore."

Hiccup was able to walk over and lower Rapunzel onto the ground with ease. As he set her down, his cold hand accidently bushed against her bare thigh and she shrieked, involuntarily kicking Hiccup in the arm.

_"Var det virkelig nødvendig?"_ Hiccup said as he rubbed his arm, annoyed.

"What?"

Hiccup sighed. "Never mind."

An awkward silence fell between the two of them as Hiccup sat down next to Rapunzel, the small fire the only sound in the cave.

"I was with a little girl," Rapunzel said slowly, remembering Angel being taken out of her arms. "Have you seen her around?"

"I haven't seen anyone else wash up here but you."

The way Hiccup had worded his sentence hit Rapunzel like a blow. "There has to be another place she could have ended up at," Rapunzel insisted, "There were some boats that were coming from this island, though."

"It might have come from a village, then."

"A village!" Rapunzel exclaimed, "You mean one with people, and food, and books?"

"Uh . . . yeah."

"And you're certain about this?"

"Sure," Hiccup said with a shrug.

"Alright, then we need to leave now," Rapunzel said sternly as she crossed her arms to try and make herself seem tougher. "Right now."

"Are you sure you're ready to walk?" Hiccup asked. "I mean, you've only been conscious for about 10 minutes or so."

Rapunzel knew she had no time to waste in finding Angel. "I'm going to be perfectly fine." She jumped to her feet and, holding herself high, began walking towards the mouth of the cave. A few steps later, her legs gave out and she was on the ground again.

"I don't mean to tell you I told you so," Hiccup smirked, "but I kind of told you so."

* * *

><p>Hiccup had insisted that she keep his vest for warmth and, considering that the dress she was wearing was actually her undergarments and that Hiccup was starting to get embarrassed, she complied. She kept the frying pan with her as well, holding it like it was some kind of weapon.<p>

He would be lying if he hadn't been hoping the voice from his dreams had taken form as one of the grand goddesses or Valkyries he had heard countless stories about. This girl was anything but. With the way he had to constantly make sure she was heading in the right direction since her constant looking around made her keep her wandering off, she reminded him of a lost doe rather than a fierce warrior.

Of course, when he came within two feet of her, her green companion—Pascal was what the girl had called him—would squeak angrily from its perch on her shoulder.

That's when the mood swings started. One minute, she would be over-ecstatic and think that all was right in Midgard, and then she would suddenly slip into some deep, dark anxiety where she would start freaking out about everything. And unfortunately for him, he could usually keep up with everything she was saying, even in her native tongue. Old Wrinkly had drilled Rapunzel's German language into him when he was younger, stating that it would be useful to Hiccup according to his predictions.

"You know, your mood swings are starting to give me an intense case of whiplash," Hiccup complained as he rubbed his neck. Her last panic attack resulted in her shaking his shoulders violently.

"I'm sorry," Rapunzel smiled awkwardly at him, "I've just got a lot on my mind right now."

"I can tell." Hiccup looked around awkwardly. He really didn't know how to deal with this girl at all. "Do you need some water or something?"

"Water would be nice."

Taking the lead, Hiccup walked down a path mapped out in his head to a large, cool stream. The sun was hanging high enough in the sky to stream through the trees and make the water shine.

Both of the teens fell to their knees in front of the creek, breathing quiet sighs of relief.

Hiccup unwrapped the cloth that was wound around his palm and dipped his hand in the stream. It would definitely leave a scar, not that it bothered him too much; it would just be one of many.

When Hiccup turned around, the girl was on the move again. She was now ankle deep in the stream, digging around in the streambed with a smile plastered on her face.

Hiccup turned to place the water skin he had filled back in his knapsack, trying to keep his fidgety hands busy. He was already missing being back in the forge, feeling the heat of the hot metal or the weight of a tool in his hand. Not being there was slowly driving him insane.

"Look at what I found!" Rapunzel suddenly exclaimed in childish delight as she held a rock in front of Hiccup's face. "It's shaped like a heart!"

Hiccup really didn't know what to say to her. She was bizarre. Even though it was clear that she was a year or two his senior, she had the attitude and naivety of a child. She was treating this ordinary rock as if it was some grand treasure.

Rapunzel paid no attention to the odd look he was giving her as she placed the rock in his palm and closed his fingers around it. "Uh, thanks," Hiccup said as he shoved the rock into his belt to satisfy the girl.

"You're welcome. It's all I can offer you right now for saving my life," Rapunzel said happily. "And for almost dropping you on your head!"

"And for throwing a frying pan at my head," Hiccup muttered.

Rapunzel's smile fell from her face. "Wait, what am I doing?" she exclaimed. Hiccup groaned. Here came the depression.

"I don't have time to be rock collecting! I'm a horrible daughter!" Rapunzel cried as she rushed out of the stream and back into the forest. Hiccup grabbed his knapsack and followed after the girl. "Do you think I'm a horrible daughter?" she called back to him.

"I'm kind of afraid to answer that question," Hiccup mumbled as he readjusted his knapsack and caught up with her.

"So, the Romans," Hiccup began, his curiosity reaching its peak. "Is there anything different about them, like new weapons or armor or anything like that?"

"I've got to get back to my mother," Rapunzel continued, completely ignoring Hiccup, "find Angel, protect my hair, and get back to my tower." Hiccup rolled his eyes; she was too far gone to get any kind of information from her. "That's got to be my goal!"

Hiccup then saw the grand bridge that connected the forest to the village. He took a deep breath; it was always bittersweet coming back home. Wasting no time, Hiccup started down the hill. Might as will get this over with so he could head back to the forge.

He noticed that his blonde companion wasn't beside him and turned to see her rooted to the spot. "Something wrong?"

"Is there anything I should or shouldn't do here?" Rapunzel asked timidly.

"Like . . . rules?"

"Well, the last time I was in a town," Rapunzel began as she twisted a lock of her hair in her hands, "I got robbed by a group of children and kidnapped by Romans."

"Fair enough," Hiccup replied, unable to keep from smiling at the oddness of her answer. "The Romans, did they put some kind of mark on you?"

"Yes, they did." Rapunzel moved her hair over her shoulder and lowered the vest to reveal a familiar blue mark placed in the middle of where her shoulder and neck met.

"Alright" Hiccup said, pitying Rapunzel for the unknown weight that the marked carried, something she would have for the rest of her life, "Just keep that mark covered and you should be fine."

"Why?" Rapunzel asked, her wide green eyes looking right into his.

"People don't take kindly to those who have that mark," Hiccup said, feeling more and more uncomfortable the longer they were on this topic.

"Are . . . are you sure?"

His closed a hand around his wrist and rubbed it nervously, his past burning fresh in his mind. "I'm positive."

"Oh . . . okay then!" Rapunzel said, enthusiasm coming back into her voice. "Let's not wait any longer!"

Hiccup took a deep breath as he turned back to the bridge. "Alright, just stay near me for awhile—"

When Hiccup looked to his side, she was already halfway down the hill, skipping with her hair gathered in her arms.

Hiccup groaned and raced after the girl. "I've got to get her a leash or something . . . "


	9. Chapter 9

"How can she run so fast?!" Hiccup thought as he raced to catch up to Rapunzel. "Her hair's at least 80 feet long!"

Rapunzel screeched to a halt and Hiccup almost ran past her. He looked to see that the happiness had melted from her face and was replaced with fear. Again.

"You okay—OW!" Hiccup exclaimed as one of Rapunzel's hands shot out and grabbed Hiccup's arm in a vice-like grip.

"E—everyone is so—so big!" Rapunzel exclaimed as she squeezed his arm tighter, frying pan poised for battle as she tried to keep an eye on every Viking walking by. "I didn't think everyone would be so much bigger than you."

Hiccup brushed off the unintentional kick in the gut to his pride. "Well, if you don't want to draw attention to yourself, then I would suggest putting away the kitchen utensil."

Rapunzel kept her frying pan in front of her. Hiccup sighed and began walking forward with her still clutching his arm. "Just keep up."

She only stuck to his side for a few minutes though before Rapunzel released his arms and started spinning and looking at every single thing that she passed, her wide green eyes looking completely memorized.

After having to steer her a couple of times to avoid collision, Hiccup clamped a hand on her shoulder and stopped her in place.

"Stay, girl," Hiccup said bluntly.

Rapunzel puffed her cheeks slightly as she pouted. "I'm not an animal."

"Looky what I got boys!" Norbert the Nutjob exclaimed in glee as he dragged a dead Nadder behind him. "This sucker put up a hell of a fight, but I got him."

Rapunzel let out a terrified squeak at the sight of the dragon and hid behind Hiccup, frying pan back up.

"This ain't a boy, you dimwit," Liceberg said, observing the body. "It's a female. That ain't nothing special."

"Still more of a trophy then you got last night," Norbert said with a wild laugh.

Right. Trophies. Hiccup forgot that unless you had proof of your kill, no one ever believed that you really killed the dragon. Hiccup wondered what he would take—head, tail, heart?

Hiccup's thoughts were cut off as Rapunzel grabbed his arm again, looking slightly green. Southerners probably weren't used to the sight of a dead dragon. "W—what are they going to do to that dragon?" she said in a trembling voice

Hiccup ignored her and turned back to see as Norton the Nutjob raised his axe over the neck of the dead dragon while the others cheered him on. He was going for the head.

Rapunzel covered her eyes and buried her head into Hiccup's shirt as the axe came down on the dragon's neck. It looked so easy to dismember a dragon. Surely even he could do that.

He could feel Rapunzel shaking against him, and the only thing he could do for her was awkwardly pat her shoulder.

"Look…" Hiccup began. He had never been good at comfort and he never thought he would have to comfort someone in a situation like this, "It's better that it's dead. It can't hurt us."

"How can you say that?" Rapunzel said as she looked at him with a pained expression. "It was still a living creature"

Hiccup frowned. What was up with this girl? She hid behind him at the sight of the beast and yet was on the verge of shedding tears over its death and beheading.

"Hiccup!"

Hiccup groaned at the sound of that voice. "Where were you last night!? We attacked Romans and—" Skullette stopped talking when she saw Rapunzel was by his side and pointed at the blonde. "Who is she?"

"Now isn't the time, Skullette," Hiccup said, dodging the question as Rapunzel still stuck close to his side, her face buried deep into his shoulder so she could avoid watching the cleanup of the Nadder body. "Were there any survivors from the Roman ships?"

Skullette shot a venomous glare at Rapunzel before answering him. "Yes, your father had them brought to the Great Hall."

Hiccup nodded in thanks before he grabbed Rapunzel's wrist. "Come on, Rapunzel."

Rapunzel then accidently bumped shoulders with Skullette as she was pulled along and felt a sudden electric shock run down her spine

"Sorry," Rapunzel said even though she knew the other girl wouldn't understand her.

"Don't mention it," Skullette said back in German. "Just be more careful, angel-face."

Both teens immediately stopped in their tracks and quickly turned back to Skullette. The fair-haired girl paid them no attention and continued walking forward without so much as a glance back.

"I thought you said no one else but you and you grandfather could speak fluent German," Rapunzel said in shock.

"I thought we were…" Hiccup trailed off. He was the only one that was taught, right?

"Hurry up, you lot!" Baggybum shouted from the village square. "Chief is calling a meeting to deal with those Southerners."

"Come on," Hiccup said, motioning for Rapunzel to follow him. She sprinted past him instead. Hiccup let out a sigh as he ran to catch up with her.

When they made it to the stairs of the Great Hall, Rapunzel still didn't slow down. This forced Hiccup to help grab the end of her massive hair and carry it up the stairs to keep Rapunzel from tripping on it and face planting.

The hall was completely full, but it was easy to tell who belonged to what group, as the Hairy Hooligans sat on one side and the Germans squished themselves to the other side. The Germans looked like they had been taken care of though as they were wrapped in blankets and eating a warm meal.

"Angel!" Rapunzel exclaimed. She ran to the group of Germans, and Hiccup followed to keep her hair off the dirty Great Hall ground.

"Sissy!" a small girl exclaimed from the corner she was sitting in. She ran over to the older girl, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders.

Rapunzel dropped to her knees and gathered the girl up in her arms. Angel sniffled into Rapunzel's hair. "I'm so glad you're safe," Rapunzel said as she ran her fingers through Angel's hair.

"Please don't leave me again," Angel pleaded.

"I promise I won't," Rapunzel said as she gripped the little girl tighter.

Hiccup smiled as he placed Rapunzel's heap of hair beside her and backed away, giving the two of them some space.

"Well, isn't this a sight to behold," an ancient voice wheezed out as the familiar clunking of a cane came up from the other side of the room.

Hiccup smiled to see his grandfather Old Wrinkly come to a stop beside him, signature pipe already in his mouth. "Surprising to see you out in all this commotion."

"And just where were you at during the commotion last night?"

"I was . . . around..." Hiccup said, trying to be vague. He didn't want to admit that he had gone to visit his mom. "I came back in one piece."

Old Wrinkly smiled sadly. "You really do remind me of Valka sometimes."

"And are you going to tell me what about her that I resemble?" Hiccup pressed.

Old Wrinkly didn't reply, but it didn't surprise Hiccup. Some days Old Wrinkly would rattle on for hours about his mother, and some days he would be a stubborn old yak and keep his lips sealed tight. It seemed it was one of those days.

"Have you been here the whole night?" Hiccup asked as he helped his grandfather sit down.

"Yes, I've been here trying to translate for everyone," Old Wrinkly said as he took another puff from his pipe. "And your father called it outrageous for me to teach you German. Bah."

A barmaid then came by and placed a whole a bowl of mashed potatoes in front of Old Wrinkly. "Ah, thank you so much, Glinda," Old Wrinkly said. "Right on time."

"Of course, Old Wrinkly," the plump barmaid said. "You're going to have to find someone new soon, though, since I'm getting married."

"Ah, right," Old Wrinkly said as he took a bite of his mashed potatoes. "I know I can't rely on my grandson here to help me in my hour of need."

"Oh, please," Hiccup said, rolling his eyes and placing his knapsack on the table. "All you ever do is sit still on top of Moldy Bolder Hill all day."

Old Wrinkly chuckled. "Don't worry, I know you would be too distracted to get back to your trinkets to pay attention to me."

His grandfather's gaze shifted from him to over Hiccup's shoulder. Hiccup turned to see Rapunzel coming over to the two of them, her bright smile back on her face and hair bundled up in her arms.

"Hiccup, this is my sister, Angel," Rapunzel introduced as Angel kept close to her skirt. "Angel, this is the boy who saved me."

The little girl giggled. "Your name's Hiccup. That's weird."

"Angel," Rapunzel said sternly.

"Well, people believe that a hideous name will scare off gnomes and trolls," Hiccup replied truthfully. Rapunzel giggled.

Old Wrinkly cleared his throat. "Alright, alright," Hiccup said. "Rapunzel, this is my grandfather, Old Wrinkly."

"Hello," Rapunzel said back politely.

"It is nice to meet you, Golden flower," Old Wrinkly said calmly. Hiccup eyes widened. This was the girl he talked about?!

Rapunzel paled at his comment. "G—golden flower?"

"Because of your hair, my dear."

Hiccup rolled his eyes, he really needed to stop listening to his grandfather's predictions. When his grandfather had been spouting about a golden flower, he just meant someone with blonde hair. That really narrowed it down when 90% of the women here had blonde hair.

But when Hiccup turned to Rapunzel, she was trembling slightly.

"Sissy?" Angel asked, concerned, tugging at the fur vest that Rapunzel still wore.

"I…I'm fine," Rapunzel said as she forced a smile for the young girl.

Hiccup was about to ask why she was obviously lying, but his father overpowered him. As always.

"Settle down, settle down!" His dad's voice boomed throughout the hall as he walked onto the ring around the fire pit.

Old Wrinkly sighed as he slowly pushed himself back into standing position and grabbed his cane. "Your father really does have the worst timing," Old Wrinkly said as he clunked over to Stoick, leaving behind his food.

When Old Wrinkly walked by Rapunzel, she quickly skittered away from him and knocked into Hiccup. What was she so afraid of?

"Old Wrinkly says weird things sometimes," Hiccup said knowingly. "Trust me, he's not going to hurt you or anything."

Rapunzel gripped his arm tightly enough that his fingers started tingling. Hiccup guessed this was just something he was going to have to get used to. He noticed that her breathing was coming in gasps as her wide eyes still stayed glued to his grandfather.

"Okay, you do need to calm down," Hiccup said as he pushed Rapunzel to sit down on the bench. Angel now clutched to her side. "If you keep this up you're going to knock yourself unconscious—"

"Who else knows about the golden flower?" Rapunzel asked in a panicked tone. "Who knows?!"

"Just me and Old Wrinkly," Hiccup said, trying to lean away from the crazy blonde.

"Promise me you won't tell anyone," Rapunzel insisted. "Promise!"

"Okay, okay," Hiccup said, eyes wide. What was her problem? "I promise I won't tell anyone."

Rapunzel's grip on his arm then loosened, her face relaxing slightly. "Thank you."

"What's wrong, sissy?" Angel pouted. "I don't know what's going on!" That made two of them.

"Nothing," Rapunzel said as she patted Angel's hair. "Just making sure we're safe."

Hiccup could barely keep from throwing his hands in the air. What the Hel was that supposed to mean?

"Do not fear, we will not harm you" Stoick began, Old Wrinkly who was no beside him translated back to the Germans, "We all share the common enemy of the Romans and will not double-cross you to them"

"However as you can already tell, we are also a village that is plagued by dragons." Some of Germans began to murmur among themselves, as if this was confirmation that the beasts they saw last night hadn't just been hallucinations. "These devils are unpredictable and could strike at any moment. I advise you to keep your eyes peeled and senses sharp in case they decide to strike again while you're here"

"Do the dragons really attack here a lot?" Rapunzel asked Hiccup nervously

"More times than I can count" Hiccup replied truthfully, "There the local pests we have instead of having something normal like mice or mosquitoes"

"A member of our tribe, Trader Johann will be making his regular stop here in two months" Stoick then continued, "If you can come up with something in exchange for travel, I'm sure he will take you back to your kingdom."

"Two months!" an older man exclaimed.

"Be happy I'm not selling you into the slave ring or shoving you off into the Barbaric Archipelago," Old Wrinkly translated back in a much calmer tone. "I have my own tribe to take care of and do not have time or resources to take you back to your kingdom. If you wish to leave now, then you can take a rowboat and pray to your god for safety. If not, then you can be patient and pull your weight around here for the time being."

Stoick then jumped off the ledge and headed to exit the Great Hall, leaving behind a commotion of outbursts and angry feelings from the unsatisfied Germans. Stoick's remained solemn and firm, just like a good chief should.

"I should go see what they're saying," Rapunzel said as she tool Angel's hand and headed back over the group.

Hiccup went back over to his grandfather. It really wasn't his business what they did now. After all, he was just the heir (maybe). He wasn't the Chief.

"I'm getting too old for this," Old Wrinkly groaned.

"I thought you weren't supposed to complain about your age?"

"Oh, that's Gothi's policy" Old Wrinkly said. "The old bat just says that because likes to disagree with me for the sake of disagreement."

Hiccup couldn't help but smile. There was nothing funnier than seeing two seventy-something year olds arguing like children. And the arguments were always about whose predictions were more accurate than the others. Hiccup was just glad he was rarely dragged into their arguments. The two old folks gave him a major headache.

"Why don't we invite the young lady and her sister to come stay with us?" Old Wrinkly said as he began poking at his mashed potatoes when he finally made it back to the table.

"Oh yeah, because that introduction my father gave was so heartwarming," Hiccup said dryly. "Besides, he's the Chief and I'm his heir."

"Don't sound too excited about it, Hiccup," Old Wrinkly said with a chuckle.

"You know what I mean."

"I do," Old Wrinkly said ignoring his grandson's annoyance. "If a chief were to show such kindness to one person, then it would be deemed unfair to all the rest of the survivors."

"However, you can't leave a girl like her out of your sight," Old Wrinkly persisted, "now, can you?"

"No, I shouldn't…I can't…" Hiccup trailed off with, there was still so much mystery wrapped around this girl. He just needed her to be kept safe and close by. That's when Hiccup saw Gobber, and was struck with his solution.

"Gobber," Hiccup said, stopping the blacksmith, "I need you to do something for me."

* * *

><p>"Here we…'re" Gobber said stumbling over his badly pronounced German, "'ome sweet 'ome"<p>

Angel clutched Rapunzel's hand tighter as they shuffled into the dirty home.

"Are you sure about this?" Rapunzel asked to Hiccup that was behind them

"Look I know he looks scary, but I trust Gobber" Hiccup said as he tried to reason

"The last time I ran into a guy without a hand" Rapunzel shuddered, "Wasn't the most pleasant experience"

"Well I'm pretty sure the last guy didn't have a pet sheep" Hiccup said motioning to across the room where Phil sat in a chair chewing on some grass. Angel giggled.

"Like I said, he's not a bad guy at all, I wouldn't put you in danger on purpose" Hiccup said, "Can you trust me on this?"

Rapunzel bit her lip as she grabbed Hiccup's sleeve and nodded, "Yes, I do"

Pascal then appeared out of Rapunzel's hair long enough to give Hiccup a threatening look before slipping back into his hiding place. Hiccup knew for a fact that that lizard wasn't going to trust him anytime soon.

Hiccup smiled awkwardly as he pulled off Rapunzel's hand from his sleeve, "Then you'll be fine"

"Promise?" Rapunzel insisted

"I promise" Hiccup said feeling uncomfortable as he said it though, this girl relied on something that could be easily broken. But she didn't seem to think that way as she looked at him now with a smile, those big honest eyes making him feel guilty for being slightly dishonest with his promise.

"I'll be heading out now" Hiccup said as he felt relieved to break eye contact with her, "Gobber will show you where to sleep so go get some rest, I think you need it"

Rapunzel's smile faltered a little but she nodded in agreement, "Yeah, you're right. I'll see you tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah, sure, maybe" Hiccup said as he began backing out of the front door. "Night"

"Good Night"

"Night, night Hiccup!" Angel happily called out, she had already started warming up to the Viking guy

Hiccup gave one more small wave before picking up his pace down the front steps. His mind was still reeling so much from everything that had happened today. He really needed to get to the forge to hammer his thoughts away, this had to be the longest withdrawal from the heat and metal he had in forever.

After Hiccup disappeared around a corner, Rapunzel immediately straightened her posture and placed a hand on Angel's shoulder. She needed to be strong for the both of them.

"Come" Gobber then said to the two girl's and started up the stairs, the girls quickly behind him.

Rapunzel couldn't help but gasp at the messy room the came into, illuminated only by the full moon outside. Clothes, metal scraps, and what looked like different hands attachments were strewn across the floor. Her mother had always been big on cleanliness, if she saw this place, she would most likely have a heart attack.

She couldn't even see where the bed was supposed to be under all the filth.

Gobber seemed to realize the same problem and quickly looked for a solution. Which ended up being a giant pile of tunics on the floor.

"Clean" Gobber managed to say as he pointed to the pile

Though touched by his offer, Rapunzel was still a little skeptical about sleeping in a pile of clothes. But Angel rubbed her eyes roughly and let out a great yawn and she could even hear Pascal do the same. This would do for tonight until she had time to clean up this mess.

"I…sleep…downstairs" Gobber said slowly as he figured out the words

Rapunzel smiled as nodded that she understood. Their conversations would mostly likely be this way for a while as it became obvious that Old Wrinkly, Hiccup, and that Skullette girl really were the only Hooligans who spoke German. But Rapunzel had heard some German words being passed in hush tones between Gobber and Hiccup on the way to the house, it made her happy that he was trying for her sake. Maybe he wasn't so bad even though he looked scary.

"Night" Gobber said as she headed downstairs

"Good night" Rapunzel said

The blonde then picked up Angel, who had already fallen asleep against her leg, and rested her against her shoulder as she quickly arranged the tunics into makeshift nest. Once she was satisfied with her work, she set Angel down and before curling to her body around the smaller girl and used her hair as a blanket to the both of them

Pascal than came out and took his usual sleeping place right beside Rapunzel's face.

**"****Are you alright Rapunzel?"** Pascal then asked her

"I feel better" Rapunzel said, "Some people aren't so scary anymore, especially Hiccup." Rapunzel scrunched her nose, "Though he is kind of rude"

**"****That's why I don't like him"** Pascal gruffed

Rapunzel smiled, "But he did save our lives and got us a place to stay"

**"****Yeah, yeah"** Pascal dismissed

Rapunzel laughed as she kissed the top of the lizard's head, "Sleep tight"

**"****Don't let the bed bugs bite" **

As tired as Rapunzel felt though, she couldn't fall asleep. She didn't know why though, maybe it was because she was happy that things were finally looking up. Or maybe sad that it would still be two months until before she would be able to see her mother again. Or scared what her mother would do to her because of her dissilience.

Either way the swirl of emotions in her chest was making tears swell up in her eyes.

"Last time" Rapunzel softly whispered to herself, "Last time, then I need to be stronger"

After making sure that she could hear Pascal's snoring to know he was asleep.

She let the tears fall from her eyes and quietly cried herself to sleep.

* * *

><p>AUTHOR'S NOTE<p>

No excuse for laziness, just f*cking life sucks people. Well that and I am simultaneously working on other projects, here they are if you interested:

1. Free! Iwatobi one-shots with my slight OC character Aki Yazaki: she was in the light novel but never appeared in the anime, I call that an abomination

2. Gray and Cana (Fairy Tail) oneshots: This is my OTP of this anime and I want to show my love for the more

3. A multi-chapter crossover of Blue Exorcist and Diabolik lovers: Didn't like Diabolik lovers because I thought there was so much more that could be expanded, plus wanted to try my hand at a dark story, dealing with elements of a heroine becoming stronger after going through something like torture, physical and mental abuse, and utter hopelessness

Anyways Ch 10 is almost done and hopefully will have it up sooner: PROMISE!

And please any feed back is helpful!


	10. Chapter 10

Rapunzel ended up waking up earlier than her usual time. Whether it was from the muggy smell of the house or because of the hardness of her makeshift bed, she had no idea. But she was up and she knew there was no use trying to go back to sleep.

But she didn't want to wake up Angel, the little girl had been through so much, so she would wait for her. It was probably another 15 minutes though before Angel woke up.

"Mornin' sissy" Angel said with a smile

"Morning Angel" Rapunzel said as she pushed the girl's bedhead out of her face, "How did you sleep?"

"Weally good" The girl said as she stretched her arms over her head, "Your hair's weaaallly soft"

"Thank you"

"I'm hungry sissy"

"So am I" Rapunzel said as she patted her tummy, "Let's go see if we can find some food"

Rapunzel allowed Angel to be the first one to get up so that Pascal had time to climb up Rapunzel's arm and into his hiding place.  
>When the two girls got downstairs, Gobber or Phil were nowhere to be seen. But the hearth did have a small fire in it and a tray with 2 apples and chicken legs sat on the edge of the hearths edge.<p>

Rapunzel saw beside the food were two gray baggy tunics, sashes and leggings, one set considerably smaller than the other. The blonde felt a smile form on her lips. Even in a new place she already had people looking out for her.

Rapunzel looked at the mess around her, it would probably feel homier if the house was picked up.

"Well" Rapunzel sighed as she tied her hair back using one of the sashes, "Let's see if I can clean this up by 7:15"

* * *

><p>Rapunzel did a quick adjustment to the sash that she had tied around her waist to keep the baggy tunic from shifting all over her body, her frying pan tucked into the sash at her side. She then turned to Angel and did the same to her sash so that the two of them matched.<p>

Judging by how high the sun was in the sky, it was well past 7:15, but Rapunzel was still proud how much they had managed to get cleaned.

They had started with the hearth area that seemed to double as a kitchen, where they had scrubbed down the big iron cauldron, cleaned out the old coal and ash, and washed the wooden plates and utensils—she still swore though that one of the lumps of mold that had been on a plate had talked to her.  
>Next had been the rest of the main room and the bed room, straitening the clutter while trying not to misplace anything, dusting, sweeping, and removing the trash.<p>

They folded the clean clothes and intensely watched the dirty ones, carefully having them hang above the hearth as a small fire was now going in it. Windows were also thrown open to let the early autumn breeze air out the house.

Rapunzel and Pascal had been able to work in perfect unison like they always had been able to do. Rapunzel had to walk Angel through everything they did though, she said that she didn't remember what it was like to clean a house. But Angel was a fast learner and they managed to work quicker the more cleaning they did.

"And that should do it" Rapunzel said as she smoothed out Angel's tunic

"Where we goin' sissy?" Angel asked as she hopped down the porch stairs.

"I thought we could do some exploring." Rapunzel followed after the girl and patted the folded up vest that was under her arm, "And I have something to return back to Hiccup"

"Hictup a weird boy" Angel said

"Yeah" Rapunzel smiled at Angel's pronunciation of Hiccup's name. "He is a little bit odd"

Rapunzel then ran into Angel as the girl had completely frozen to her spot, her wide eyes focused on something. Rapunzel followed the girl's line of direction to see a group of kids all surrounding a tree.

Two kids seemed to be climbing up the tree while the other kids were shouting at him excitedly. Rapunzel guessed the kids were having some sort of climbing competition.

"Oh wow!" Angel exclaimed, her eyes sparkling as she watched the kids. "Tat's so cooool!"

"Sissy!" Angel then said as she grabbed Rapunzel's skirt, "I'm goin to play wit t'ose kids"

"Okay" Rapunzel smiled as she patted the girl's head, "Do you want me to stay with you?"

"No, I be o-ta" Angel said with a smile, "I know where home is!"

Angel didn't even wait for Rapunzel's reply as she ran over the kids, a little bounce in her step.

Even though she said she was fine, Rapunzel couldn't help but watch Angel for a little bit longer. Rapunzel had come to learn that Angel had lost her parents in a fire and that's when she had been taken in by the kids on the street.

But Angel had also told her that since she had Rapunzel as a sister now that she didn't miss the other mean kids and was happy.

Angel seemed to show that as she ran up to the tallest kid there and stuck her hands on her hips. She pointed the tree and made a climbing motion. The other kids seemed to understand her movement and laughed. But Rapunzel didn't need to worry as Angel pushed passed the kids and immediately began climbing the tree at incredible speeds. The kid Angel had challenged saw that Angel had some bite to her and started climbing after her, the other kids cheering once again.

The scene made Rapunzel smile, she had almost had forgotten that Angel had climbed an entire building in order to escape Rapunzel.

She was one tough little girl.

Rapunzel then felt something pulling at her hair.

"What are you-!?" Rapunzel hastily exclaimed as she made a grab for her hair and saw that it had been…braided?  
>Rapunzel looked over her shoulder to see that a guy with long dreadlocks that was about the same age as her paid no attention to her freak out and continued to keep making her hair into a thick braid.<p>

The blonde looked to see that he wasn't the only one though. A group of teenagers were coming up close to her, yelling in Norse at the teen braiding her hair. One was obviously the dreadlocks guy's twin sister, than there was a chubby boy, a black haired boy, and a pretty blonde girl carrying a huge axe.  
>After the guy finished, Rapunzel ended up doing a quick twirl, the thick braid following with her body instead of tangling her up. It felt wonderful!<p>

"Thank you" Rapunzel said as she did a quick jump, her braid following with her.

The black haired boy then sauntered and gave her a crooked smile, saying something to her in Norse.

Rapunzel didn't like how close the boy was standing and quickly pulled out her frying hand to hit him slightly on the head as a warning. The boy looked completely distraught as Rapunzel then poised the frying pan in front of her. "I will use this"

The other teens then instantly broke out in laughter. Well, all of them besides the axe girl.

Rapunzel felt instantly self-conscious as she pulled her frying pan back and took a couple steps away from the group. She hated the fact that she was finally around people, and yet she couldn't even talk to them.

She really wanted to see Hiccup right now, but she had no idea where he could be. However, these teens might know where he would be.

"Hiccup" Rapunzel then said to the teens, but they looked at her in confusion. No, that wasn't how Gobber had pronounced Hiccup's name. Rapunzel looked at the teens again and brought out the fur vest as reference and said in Norse, "Hiksti"

They didn't say anything at first, just had a different mix of reactions. The twins and guy with black hair looked in disbelief at her response, the big guy looked at her with fascination. And the girl with the blonde braid simply pointed to a small building that was behind them, black smoke curling out the top of it.

"Thank you" Rapunzel with a nod, the girl nodded in return before hefting an axe over her shoulder and began to leave, the other teens following behind.  
>Rapunzel then ran over to the building. She could see Hiccup through a window the closer she got.<p>

"Hi Hiccup!" Rapunzel exclaimed as she entered the building. She then saw Gobber there as well and gave him an enthusiastic wave as well. The old blacksmith smiled and returned the gesture.

Hiccup however ended up jumping from her loud entrance, almost dropping the heavy hammer he had been using.

"You sure are hard to miss aren't you?" Hiccup sighed as he continued his work

Rapunzel seemed to mistake his snide remark as a compliment and smiled brightly at Hiccup. "Thank you"

Hiccup smiled, she seemed to be a bit naïve, but it was strangely refreshing to have someone positive like her around. "Nice tunic"

"Thanks" Rapunzel said picking up the ends of the tunic between her forefinger and thumb as she did a quick twirl, "Does it make me look more like a Viking?"

Hiccup smiled, "Maybe keep the spinning down to a minimum"

"Here" Gobber then said as he handed her a white ribbon

"Thank you" Rapunzel said and Hiccup translated back to Gobber

"Sleep…good?" Gobber asked Rapunzel

"Yes" Rapunzel said with a nod, "Probably even better from now on since the house is clean"

Hiccup instantly laughed and said something to Gobber in Norse. Gobber then replied back in surprise tone and exited out of the shop quickly.  
>Rapunzel stood there confused though, "Was it something I said?"<p>

"More like what you did" Hiccup said with amusement still in his voice, "I've known Gobber my entire life and have never seen his house clean once"

"Oh, I hope it doesn't make him mad" Rapunzel said slightly worried, "I hope he likes the bread I made too"

"You had time to make bread too?"

"Yep" Rapunzel said proudly, "And it's really good too if I may so myself"

Hiccup couldn't help but laugh some more, "Yeah, because there is a serious lack of bread-making Vikings that we need"

Rapunzel puffed out her cheeks in a pout, "Don't be rude!"

Hiccup wanted to laugh some more at the blonde's childish little stamp she then did but he was able to catch himself, "Alright, alright"

"Hmph" Rapunzel said as crossed her arms and turned away from him in doubt

After a minute though, Rapunzel realized how ashamed her mother would be in her for acting like such a little child. And unfolded her arms and held her head up high and turned back to Hiccup. But the teen had turned back to hammering at a sword head with no attention to the blonde what-so-ever.

Feeling slightly embarrassed, Rapunzel turned her attention back to the ribbon she had bunched up in her hand. She ran her thumbs over the material in interest, what was so special about this ribbon?

"It's a maiden band" Hiccup then explained, interrupting Rapunzel's thought, "You'll need it to mark that you're not a married woman"

"Oh wow" Rapunzel said in fascination as she tied it where the top of her braid began

"You seem so interested by the simplest things" Hiccup said bluntly

"Well of course" Rapunzel replied matter-of-factly, "I've kind of had a sheltered life"

"Ah" Hiccup said in realization. He had heard cultural stories from Camicazi and Trader Johan of women of the South being more repressed and treated second to the men in their villages. That was probably the reason she acted to skiddish and crazy, she didn't have a mind of her own.

"And that was the reason I told him you didn't need it though" Hiccup said, "Because of your husband"

Rapunzel giggled, "But I'm not married. You were actually the first boy I've ever talked to"

Hiccup paused from his work and turned to Rapunzel with a look of doubt on his face, "Really?"

"Yes"

"Huh" Hiccup said, so she was just naturally crazy

An awkward silence fell between the two of them as Hiccup just turned back to his work and Rapunzel just twisted her braid in her hair. She then remembered the reason she had wanted to come.

"I brought you back your vest and cleaned it for you" Rapunzel said as she presented the garment, "Thank you for letting me use it"

"Yeah, sure, no problem" Hiccup said as he then pointed to some hanging pegs, "Just go ahead and hang it over there"

The blonde nodded and followed his instructions, though she thought it was a shame she had to give it back. She really did like the smell of it.

After she hung up the vest, she took it upon herself to take a look around at the shop. She knew the basics of the tools that hung up on the wall, and then there were some she had never seen before. Rapunzel couldn't help herself as she dragged her fingertips over every tool she could touch.

She was so caught up in it that it shocked her when her hand suddenly slipped through an unexpected curtained area. Rapunzel immediately recovered from her shock and pulled back the curtains.

"Oh hey you're not actually supposed to go back there-!" Hiccup exclaimed to Rapunzel, but it was too late

"What...is all this?" Rapunzel asked as she came into a little separate room that was filled to the brim with all sorts of things: Sketches of weird looking devices covering every wall surface, a desk littered with charcoal sticks, and shelves fill with half put together parts for the devices.

"Oh...uh...nothing much just some stuff I've been working on" Hiccup said uneasily as he began to hammer more at the sword, "It's really confidential…upper level development"

"Hiccup, you really made all these?"

"Uh…yeah"

"That's incredible!"

Hiccup immediately stopped in the middle of his hammering and turned to Rapunzel. "Wait, what?"

Rapunzel didn't hear Hiccup's disbelief as she began grabbing as many sketches as she could off the wall before running over to Hiccup. She ended up knocking into him slightly so that she was right next to him. Rapunzel didn't even notice that Hiccup shifted away uncomfortably so he wasn't in contact with her as she lined the sketches up on the table in front of them.

"How do you pronounce this one?"

"Jotunns erobreren." Hiccup then did a quick translation, "Jotunn's conqueror"

"What do you use it for?"

"Uh, it's was an early design I had for...catching…trolls" Hiccup said embarrassed as he immediately faced palmed himself, why did he just say that!?

"And this one?" Rapunzel asked pointing to the next sketch, like his answer didn't seem out of the ordinary to her.

"It's a really old sketch of homes I made for fairies" Hiccup said and looked to see that still didn't seem weird to Rapunzel, so he repeated, "Homes…for fairies"

"I heard you" Rapunzel replied as she kept looking over each sketch

"And that doesn't bother you at all?" Hiccup asked, "Talking about trolls or fairies"

"No not really" Rapunzel shrugged, "They kind of sound similar to creatures in stories my mother would tell me about all the time when I was younger" Rapunzel couldn't help but smile, she had never seen her mother so happy and content when she used to tell her these stories as she brushed Rapunzel's hair.

Rapunzel didn't seem to notice Hiccup staring at her in curiosity as she pointed to the last sketch in the line, "And this one"

"Hjertet piercer" Hiccup said, "The Heart Piercer"

"It looks like a type of bow and arrow" Rapunzel noted. She was able to recognize it as it was the only type of weapon that was kept in the tower, but of course she never let her mother go near it.

"That's exactly what it is!" Hiccup said excitedly as he pulled the sketch towards him to point out the parts as he began to explain. "It uses roller-nuts that sit on a metal pin, in which a string can be pulled back and the tension causing the arrow to be shot with an 18% faster velocity"

"Slow down, slow down" Rapunzel said with a smile, "I can't understand you when you talk that fast!"

"Oh, right, sorry"

"It's okay, I would love to see how these things being built anyways"

Even Hiccup could read her implied suggestion. "I guess if you want to stick around you can watch me work"

Rapunzel smiled at his response, but it faltered slightly at took another look at one of the fairy house designs. She pursued her lips before answering, "No"

"No?" Hiccup said slightly offended

"Don't just show me, teach me" Rapunzel said as she grabbed the sketch she had been observing, "Teach me how to build this"

Teach her? No one had asked him to have them teach them how to build, they just expected to have their weapons ready when it was convenient for them.

"Well I don't know" Hiccup said as he rubbed the back of his neck, "I have a pretty fast pace and don't know if you could keep up"

"I can! I'm a fast learner" Rapunzel exclaimed confidently and placed her hands on her hips, "Besides making papier-mâché and building fairy houses are basically the same thing"

"No, not really" Hiccup replied truthfully, but that didn't even seem to faze Rapunzel as she still stood there with a smile plastered on her face

"How about this then, I'll bring you a lunch every day, if teach me how to make this." Rapunzel said as she held up the blueprints for the fairy house. She thought about it and quickly added, "And tell me stories"

"Stories?" Hiccup said confused, "Stories about what?"

"I don't know…about anything and everything I guess, there's so much I want to learn and see that just about anything would do!"

Hiccup let out a sigh of defeat and turned back to Rapunzel, hands still on her hips, confidence…or actually optimism was practically oozing from her. Nothing he said was going to get her to change her mind.

"You're sure that this bread you can make is really that good?" Rapunzel smiled and nodded her head happily

"Alright" Hiccup said as he stuck out his hand, "You've got yourself a deal"

Rapunzel smiled brightly as she clasped her hand with Hiccup's and the deal was struck.

* * *

><p>AUTHOR'S NOTE<p>

Holy cow! Another chapter up so soon! Is the world ending!?

No, the world is not ending, I've been waiting forever to upload this chapter as this marks the chapter when the story will really get rolling! (Will tell you now that at least two more chapters will happen before we get to the beginning of the HTTYD timeline)

*Jotunn: A mythical troll from Norse Mythology, sometimes referred to as a giant though. The main I was looking for though was some famous troll to insert so I could have a catchy title for the trap :)))


	11. Chapter 11

**Three weeks later…Rome**

"I feel ridiculous in this get-up" Wiley said as he annoyingly pulled at the loose Roman tunic.

"You would look even more ridiculous if you wore your Southern clothes here" Gothel spat back bitterly as she took another long drink from her wine cup.

"Well we just spent 3 fucking weeks on a boat to sail to this god forsaken place, just to find out that the boat carrying that Rapunzel girl was lost at sea! Now what are we—OW!" Micajah was cut off from his complaining as the thorn design on his hand slithered into his wrist, constricting and pinching his veins.

"I would appreciate it if you kept your loud mouth shut" Gothel said as she unclutched her fist, causing the thorn to release from its violent action.

"Evil witch" Micajah said as he reached for his sword

Wiley knew what his brother was going to do and clasped a hand on Micajah's shoulder and said in a warning tone, "Brother, don't"

Gothel almost scoffed at the brothers. Family ties were only weakness.

"So what do we do now then?" Micajah asked

That was a good question. With no other organic pieces of Rapunzel besides the one hair Gothel had already used, there was no way she could have been able to see where on Earth Rapunzel was now.

"Make way! Make way!" A small child then exclaimed as he weaved around the charts in the busy street. "The Archon is coming! Make way!"

The citizens of Rome immediately took heed to the boy's announcement as they began clearing the street as carts harshly pulled to the side, almost knocking into a citizen or two as they lined up near the street.

Not a moment later, Gothel watched as a greatly decorated carpentum* clomped down the street being pulled by two great, white stallions.

As the carriage came by each citizen, they dropped to their knees and bowed low, their faces so close to the filthy street.

Gothel sneered at the lowly people, the Underworld would have to freeze before the witch would bow down to a royal.

However when the carriage passed right by Gothel, an electric shock ran down the witches spine, causing her cup of wine to fall out her hand.

"What are you doing?" Wiley called after Gothel. But the witch paid no attention to him as she jumped out her seat and walked into the middle of the road, eyes glued to the receding carriage. The shock in her spine slowly tingled away the farther the carpentum got from her.

"Get out of the way!" A man yelled at Gothel as the carts began getting back onto the street, life in Rome returning back to normal once again.

Gothel was snapped out her daze as she walked back towards the Popina* still feeling uneasy about what had just happened to her.

"You boy" Gothel then exclaimed in Latin as she roughly grabbed the arm of the boy who had just warned the Roman citizens mere seconds ago, "Who all was in that carpentum?"

"Why should I tell you old hag?"

Gothel reached out and twisted the boy's ear roughly

"OW! OW! OW! Okay I'll tell you!" Gothel released the boy's now bright red ear.

The kid grumbled as he rubbed sore ear, "It was the Archon known as the Fat Consul like I said and most likely his young Mistress Regina"

The old witch stiffened at the name and instantly released the boy, who ran away in fear that he would be captured by the old witch again.

Gothel however paid no heed to the boy as a smiled crossed her face, there was still hope. Striding confidently back over the table, Gothel then began collecting her things.

"Let's go boys" Gothel said as she threw a couple of bronze coins on the table

"Where the hell are we going now?" Micajah asked bitterly

"To visit the Archon's home of course"

))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

"You'd think these things would have better security" Wiley said as he tossed aside the unconscious Roman soilder

"Of course my anaphylaxis powder had nothing to do with it" Gothel said hotly

"You were the one who asked for our help in the first place" Micajah said from the top of the stone wall that surrounded the Arcon's palace with a hand extended out towards Gothel.

The witch ignored the jaunty comment and took the older Stabbington's brother hand as he lifted her up with ease. Then just as easily Micajah lowered Gothel down on the other side of the wall and immediately turned to help his brother.

Gothel didn't wait for the brothers though as she began walking around at the exclusive garden, letting her fingers glide over the delicate plant leaves that she had not felt in years. She had truly been away from Rome for far too long.

The shock then ran down Gothel's spine again as she stood in front of what looked to be a large bed chamber.

"Stay here boys" Gothel said as she shoved purse into the arms of Wiley, "This will only take a minute"

"Why should we do that?" Micajah asked

"Well I have not seen this in a few centuries" Gothel said as she pulled back the transparent curtains covering the entrance to the bedroom, "I don't want to scare her too badly"

Entering the room, Gothel had to admit though that the bed chamber was even more impressive than the garden. Complete with brightly colored walls, marble floors, finely carved wooden pillars, and even a canopy bed with silk sheets.

And that's when Gothel saw a young woman sound asleep on a kline*. Gothel wasted no time as she strode across the room and towards the sleeping woman.

Peering down at her face, Gothel couldn't help but scowl from how much she still hadn't change.

She still had the fresh look of an 18 year old maiden with her pearly white skin. Her just as white, princess curled hair splayed out across the pillows as her soft breathes moved between her red painted lips. And from what Gothel could see through her nearly transparent toga, she had even been able to keep her entire body young and flawless.

With a stab of jealousy in Gothel's heart, the older woman reached out and roughly shook the girl.

The girl's gray eyes shot open as she immediately grabbed the golden dagger that had been sitting on her side table and aimed to make an attack on her intruder.

Gothel however had seen this reaction coming and quickly manipulated the vines from the grapes that had also been on the table to shoot out and wrap around the girl's wrist. This effectively stopped the girl from plunging the dagger into Gothel's abdomen by a mere few inches.

"Oh come now" Gothel said with a still cool tone, "There is no need to act over dramatic"

The girl seized her struggling against the plant when she heard Gothel's voice. She looked up to see that her ears hadn't betrayed her, pure shock spread across the girl's face.

But she only let that pitiful look last for a second before she shut her dropped jaw and let a smirk replace it instead. "123 years later and this is how you want to great me mother?"

"Well if you remember to not let your guard fall down then I wouldn't have to, my sweet daughter Regina." Gothel flicked her wrist and caused the vines to untangle themselves from the girl's wrist reduce back down to their original size

"You would be surprised how many guards I can summon now a days with just a little scream" Regina said smugly as she placed her dagger back on the table and pushed herself into sitting position

"Well cover yourself up my dear" Gothel said as she motioned to the Stabbington Brothers to come forth, "We do have guests after all"

Regina looked past her mother to get a good look at the brothers. "Nice to see you're keeping good company for a woman your age" Regina haughtily said as she wrapped her silk shawl around her to cover up her bust area

"And this is how you spend your days now?" Gothel said as she took off her cloak, "Being the Fat Consul's whore"

"Being a whore would mean I would actually be sleeping with the Fat Consul" Regina said as she poured herself a glass of wine

"Oh?"

"He is a lonely man and having the company of a beautiful woman is enough for the old king." Regina smirked, "Well that and a little brain manipulation to make him only_** think**_ he's having his way with me"

"Ah yes" Gothel said as she tapped her finger against her chin, "I almost forgot your silly little spirit magic"

Regina's jaw clenched as she took a sip of her wine, "And yet my mind control magic is several times more powerful than your plant magic"

"Now would you ever say that about your Grandmother's animal magic?"

"Well Grandmother actually cared to show that she actually loved me" Regina said matter-of-factly

Gothel just smiled. "Have you heard anything from your Grandmother recently?"

"Only that she is still residing in Scotland. She says that she'll be staying there for a while since she doesn't like moving around a lot"

"Well Scotland is a very lovely place" Gothel said as she and Regina each took a seat at a small dining table, "And not to mention that word has gotten around that there is a young princess who's just about to turn sixteen, and that's the age most girls come down to visit a witch. Should make your grandmother very happy to have some company"

Then the door suddenly opened to the villa. A young slave girl walked in carrying a tray of goat cheese and barely bread.

When the caught sight of the large Stabbington brothers, she instantly dropped the tray and began speaking rapidly in Latin.

She was about to run out of the room to go get help, until Regina stuck up a hand. The girl instantly stopped talking and stood completely rigid, her eyes glowing purple now.

"Don't panic" Regina said calmly in Latin, "Pick up this mess, get me fresh food, and tell no one of what you see here"

The girl bowed to show that she understood before she picked up the food and left the room.

"Stand right by the door" Gothel ordered the Stabbington brothers, "We don't need any kind of commotion"

The brothers didn't look so happy to be ordered around so harshly. Regina saw this and mewled out sweetly, "Please boys. For me."

Letting out one last grumble, the brothers complied with Gothel's orders and stood on either side of the door.

"It seems as if your little experiment is proving quite successful" Gothel said, "You have that slave girl completely under your control now"

"Well mortals have such simple minds that they don't even have the willpower or hope to solve their problems and must rely on gods to solve their problems" Regina said, having said the word "gods" quite proudly. "They almost make it too easy for me"

Gothel then reached forward and placed a hand on Regina's cheek, "I'm just so glad we can at least agree on something"

Regina looked at her mother cryptically, "Why are you really here mother?"

Gothel sighed, "If you must know, I'm was here looking for something here"

"Oh you must be talking about that little blonde girl"

Gothel quickly removed her hand from Regina's cheek. "Oh don't give me that look mother, you were the one that gave me your hairbrush as an heirloom" Regina said as she motioned to the golden vanity where a silver hairbrush was sitting. "You were also the one that taught me that viewing spell, so of course I would take advantage of it"

"Then you know about her power?"

"Do you really need to ask?"

"Then you also know how important it is that I find where that Roman vessel went down so I can find her"

"How do you even know she's alive?"

"Because I wouldn't be standing here if she wasn't"

Regina giggled lightly, "I suppose you are right. The ship went down by the Isle of Berk" Regina then motioned a hand to the direction of the Port. "It's 12 days North of Hopeless and located in the Meriden of Misery"

"You sound like you've been there before"

"Yes, the last time I was physically there though was about 300 years ago when I met up with a power hungry dragon." Regina smiled as the memory as she rang her finger around the rim of the cup, "I thought she could be a powerful creature to have on hand, so implanted her with the ability of manipulation and let her do as she wished with it"

"And what if she gets too much to handle and wishes to destroy you?"

"Ah, I'm afraid that my spell is still slightly unstable. She completely relies on the piece of my soul that resides in Berk in human form" Regina said matter-of-factly. "If she ever became a problem, all my soul has to do is turn the other way and the spell out slowly rot the dragon's brain"

"I'm so proud of you pumpkin" Gothel said as she laid her hands over her daughters, "Just don't stress yourself too much my dear, you already look like you're getting crow's feet"

"Well it could be a lot worse" Regina said as she grabbed Gothel's hand to emphasis her liver spots. "It looks like we need to get that girl back sooner than later"

"Then help me get Rapunzel back?"

"And what about those brothers?" Regina whispered to her mother as she glanced over to the men in question, "Surely they're not helping you out of the goodness of their hearts"

"As you said dear, mortals made it too easy" Gothel said as she grabbed Regina's cup and took a sip from it, "Meaning they're disposable, but you are also my flesh and blood"

"Even so, you know it wouldn't be surprising for me to ask for a binding spell"

"I suppose not"

Gothel and Regina clasped their hands together willing each of their magic to seep into the hand of the other, their strong gaze replacing their words. It only took a moment form the contract to form. The two women released their hands, a thorn design now on Regina's hand and a star design on Gothel's hand.

"Now that the situation is settled, go call upon a ship" Gothel ordered, "We will leave for Berk in the morning"

"No"

"No?"

"If you want my help, then we are going to do things my way" Regina said as she smugly popped a grape in her mouth, "I hate to say this mother, but you're already too late in getting her to come back quietly. From what I've seen through my soul's eyes, Rapunzel has already come attached to the Chief's son."

"So going to Berk and taking her by force would only cause her to be more rebellious."

"Damn it all" Gothel snarled as she slammed her fist against the table

"Do not fret mother" Regina said, drinking in her mother's despair, "We just need to turn up the guilt she already feels till she comes running back to us"

"And how do you propose that we do that without touching her?" Gothel asked, "What can we possibly accomplish from here?"

"Well my piece of soul in Berk can certainly give her hell physically" Regina said with a smirk, "And if you just allow me a sip of that potion you have, I will be able to slip in her mind the first time she uses her powers, therefore allowing us to attack her mentally"

Gothel eyed her daughter suspiciously. Rapunzel had never been this sly or difficult to deal with, then again Gothel's tactics hadn't worked on Regina like they did for Rapunzel. Regina had absorbed them instead. Meaning as much as Gothel didn't want to admit it, if this was the best way to torture Rapunzel, then she would have to trust her.

"Again, you seem pretty confident in yourself" Gothel said as she reluctantly passed her canteen over to Regina

"I learn from the best mother" Regina said as took a sip from the canteen. "After all, what's a lost princess compared to a sorceress?"

* * *

><p>Carpentum: Roman carriage<p>

Popina: A wine bar that were popular in Rome

kline: a long couch used for relaxing

Yeah guys, you are going to have to get used to the fact that I'm a junior in college who is working on a personal research project for my archeology professor as well. Meaning that writing is becoming a hobby I can attend to less and less.

HOWEVER I appreciate all your support and will try my best to get to this more and more, but please you patience is appreciated!

Enjoy guys!

All characters belong to their rightful owners

PS I don't hear from my current beta reader anymore, so if anyone is interested in being a beta reader for this story, just message me and let me know!


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